The 2023 Summer Fancy Food Show, renowned as North America's premier event for food innovation, was an epicurean wonderland brimming with fresh flavors and forward-thinking trends. Bringing together industry professionals, food connoisseurs, and culinary pioneers, it showcased the food and beverage landscape's creative pulse, giving us a glimpse into what's next for our supermarkets and dining tables!
We saw a fantastic mix of tradition and innovation. In addition to the usual fanfare of exotic cheeses, opulent olive oils, and craft chocolates, there were also exciting new products and trends that reflected the changing landscape of our food consumption habits. Think eco-friendly packaging, plant-based alternatives, global flavor fusions, functional foods, and so much more. Now let's dive in to the top 10 trends that made waves at this summer's show!
Mocktails and Mixers Evolve
Mocktail trends have continued to grow as younger generations prefer to drink less alcohol. Vendors at the show have responded to this trend by increasing their mocktail offerings. You can now find more variety of mocktails beyond the basics with more interesting cocktail blends, flavors, and botanicals. There are plenty of reasons not to drink, but if you still want to blend in at the party and enjoy a refreshing beverage then check out some of the following venders. Savyl is one that offered mocktails like Moscow mule or mojitos in can. Noroi created non-alcoholic version of most common hard liquors which allows you to create your own cocktails.
•Betty Buzz – Sparkling Lemon Lime, Meyers Lemon Club Soda, Sparking Grapefruit
•Dirty Pelican Cocktail Mixers - Jalapeño Margarita, Blackberry Mint Mule, Pineapple Fig Old Fashioned, Elderflower Paloma, Mango Passionfruit Margarita
•For Bitter For Worse – Rose City Fizz, Eva Spritz Can
•Fauxmosa - Mimosa
•Say So- Skinny Spicy Margarita
•Savyl – Moscow Mule, Mojito, Bellini, Paloma
•Noroi Distillerie – ESPRIT-DU-TENNESSEE, ESPRIT-DE-LONDON, ESPRIT-DES-CARAÏBES
Nuts 4 Seeds
Healthy snacking is always a huge focus of the show. This year we saw plenty of bars or snacks, which had seeds or nuts to fortify its nutrition. For example, Blakes Seed Based chewy granola bars were packed with seeds and had unique flavors like birthday cake or apple cinnamon. We also saw vendors trying to spice things up with new flavors for nuts for snacking. Virginia Diner had flavors like Old Bay, and Street Taco peanuts.
•Domna’s Bakery- Mini Breadsticks with Sunflower seeds
•Dulzura Seeds + Nuts Crunchy Bar – Sesame Almond Sunflower
•Rustic Bakery – Tart Cherry, Cacao Nob, & Almond, Apricot, Pistachio & Brandy, Black and White Sesame
•Blake’s Seed based Chewy Granola Bars – Birthday Cake, Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Chip,
•Joy full bakery Gluten free parm crisp, and gluten free cookie, seeds trend? Everything bagel trend? , seeds in the parm crisp
•Farm Brothers – Cinnamon Roll Hazelnut, Almond Brownie, Pecan Coco Choco
•Henrietta Said Wing Flavored Peanuts – Ancho Kimchi, Lemon Peper, Nashville Hot Chicken
•Virginia Diner - Old Bay Peanuts, Street Taco Peanuts
Improved Oils and Upgraded Butters
Avoiding inflammatory oils has been a growing trend. At the show, we saw new options for cooking with convenient sprayable inflammatory oils and animal fats like duck fat and avocado oil. We also saw more seed butters and nut butters as an alternative to peanut butter.
•Carr Valley - Sheep Butter, Goat Butter
•Cornhusker Kitchen - Duck Fat Cooking Oil Spray, Berkshire Pork Fat (Lard), Waygu Beef Tallow,
•Poke - Sprayable Avocado Oil, Lime and Pink Pepper Avocado Oil, Yuzu Avocado Oil, Toasted Sesame Oil
•Terrapin Ridge Farms - Pumpkin Butter
•Octonuts - Virgin Macadamia Oil
•Fatso Peanut Spread – Maple, Salted Caramel
•Mixed Up Nut Butter – Almond, Pecan and Cashew Nut Butter, Maple, Walnut, Pecan and Cashew Nut Butter
Luxury Noshes
While healthy snacking was a big trend so were the not so healthy chips. Many companies were experimenting with unique flavors and extra crispy textures that had a more premium mouth feel. One highlight was the Wine Chips with bougie flavors like Dry Aged Ribeye, and Manchego. Keoghs’ also brough there own slew of unique Irish grow potato chips with Irish inspired flavors like Shamrock and Sour Cream.
•Wine Chips - Dry Aged Ribeye, Spicy Calabrese, Billionaire Bacon, Hawaiian Red Sea Salt, Sel Gris, Black Lava Jalapeno, Asiago, Blue Cheese, Manchego
•Utz Chips - Mike’s Hot Honey Chips
•Nantucket Crisps - Stubbys Jamaican Jerk, Hummock Hot Honey
•Keoghs Irish Potatoes Chips – Sour Cream And Shamrock, Truffle and Real Irish Butter
•Side Project Jerky – Pho, Cheesesteak, Mongolian
Seasoning on the Spectrum from Unitasker to Multitasker
At the show, we saw a lot of different ways companies are creating convenience in the kitchen. One trend we saw was the various single purpose sauces, seasonings and spice blends. While Alton Brown might shudder at the concept, these products offered the perfect flavor for only one application. For example, Spiceology had a Nashville Hot Chicken seasoning that is designed only to be used for fried chicken. The Gourmet collection had a similar product line, but it was based on baking with spice blends like Apple Pie or Gingerbread. At the other end of the spectrum, we saw many one size fits all seasoning and sauce solutions. Many sauces and seasonings on display boasted how their product works in almost any situation. Uncle Clarence BBQ had a rub that will work for any barbeque you want to smoke, and Mama Kingston had a Jamaican inspired sauce that works with any meal.
•Dangled Seasonings - Fisherman Seafood Spectacular
•The Gourmet Collection - Spicy Stir Fry, Avocado Guacamole and More, Szechuan Ginger Salt, Thia Style Green Curry, Roast Vegetables and Fries, Gingerbread, Apple Pie
•Four Star Provisions - Roasted Chili Verde Pan Sauce, French Red Wine Pan Sauce
•Dumpling daughter - Spicy Sweet Soy Sauce
•Spiceology – Nashville Hot Chicken, Alvin Cailan | Fries Szn, Prime Rib
•Spicewalla – Carne Asada, Al Pastor, Pescado Verde
•Uncle Clarence BBQ - Season All, All Purpose Rub
•Spiceology - Alvin Cailan | Everything Szn
•Tari Rocoto - Peruvian Everything Sauce
•Mama Kingston - Everything Everyday Sauce
•Southern Art - One and Done All-Purpose Seasoning
Related: Winter 2023 Fancy Food Show Trends
Not Hot Sauce?
If you recall, at the last Fancy Food Show we saw soy sauce in various powdered, clear, and spray forms. Now hot sauces are getting a similar treatment as hot sauce makers are creating powdered and stick versions of their most popular hot sauces, which can be used for cooking or snacking.
- Queen majesty – Ancho Habanero Hot Sauce Powder
- Mantis BBQ Dust - Sweet Heat
- Bravado Spice Co. – Jalapeño and Garlic
- Savannah Bee Company - Hot Honey Fire Sticks
Pates For All
Traditionally, pates contain meat and gelatin, which prevents vegans and vegetarians from enjoying it. A few companies from the show are starting to innovate by creating pescatarian, vegan and vegetarian friendly pates. We are starting to see more and more luxury foods become accessible to new diets and these pates are following this trend.
•Three Little Pigs – Plant-Based Black Truffle Pate, Plant Based Koji foie gras, Plant-Based Harvest Pate
•Alexian – Mushroom and Artichoke Pate, Tomate Basil Vegan Pate, Vegetable Pate
•Matiz – Sardine Pate , Smoked Trout Pate, Saffron Langoustine Pate
The New Wave of Chili Crisp and Chili Lime
Lao Go Ma and other popular Schezuan chili oils are now staple condiments in most supermarkets. Companies at the show are now expanding these offerings with new flavors, ingredients and origin country. Homiah’s chili crisp is an Indonesian style chili oil with sambal and seaweed. Cantina Royal brought their own Mexican version know as salsa matcha.
Tajin or chili lime is a popular spice powder in Mexico. Commonly, it is found in snacking and sweets. This popular powder is starting to pick up steam in the North American market. South Shore offered chili lime as one of their flavors for their puff snacks. Barbeque Pitmaster Rodney Scott also had a chili lime dry rub.
•Crisp green - Chili Lime Dried Fruits
•Belmont Peanuts - Chili Lime
•South Shore - Chili Lime Puff Snacks
•Setton Farms - Chili Lime Seasoned Pistachio
•LaClare - Chili Lime Goat Cheese
•Pina Picante - Coco Chili Tamarindo
•Rodney Scott – Green Chili Lime Citrus Rub
•Homiah Sombal Chili Crunch – Seaweed, Original
•Cantina Royal – Smoked Garlic & Arbol Chili Oil
•Katayama – Crunchy Chili Onion, Red Pepper of Szechuan
•Chingonas - Salsa Macha
•Sauce Up NYC - Garlic Chip Chili Sauce, White Truffle Chili Crisp, Chili Crisp Hot Honey, Almond Crunch Sauce
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Seaweed Not Salt
Low salt alternatives has become a stable at the show especially in sauces and spice blends. Some companies took it a step further and used kelp or seaweed to being back some umami flavor while remaining low sodium. Atlantic Sea Farms showed off their kelp cubes which are like bullion cubes but with only 10mg of sodium. Oceans balance had a variety of seasonings that were low sodium but fortified with seaweed to enhance the flavor.
•Oceans balance – Lemon Pepper Seaweed Seasoning, Seafood Seaweed Seasoning, Chili Lime Seaweed Seasoning
•Atlantic Sea Farms - Kelp Cubes
•Homiah Sombal Chili Crunch – Seaweed
Seacuterie
While cured meats, aged cheeses and luxury crackers have always been staples at the Fancy Food Show, seacuterie is a new seasonal summer trend that we are starting to see more. We saw a variety of products that would be perfect for a seafood board from Jinka’s plant-based Calamari to Matiz’s smoked trout pate.
•Matiz - Smoked Trout Pate, Saffron Langoustine Pate,
•Jinka - Plant Based Calamari
•Five Star Montauk – Mezcal Habanero Glazing Butter, Scotch Chipotle Glazing Butter
•Antarctic Krill Meat
•Naera Fish Jerky Crunch – Cheesy Chili, Buttery Herb
