Fancy Flavor Trends

It’s one of the biggest shows in the food and beverage industry and always gives us an insight into what flavor trends are hot in the market right now. The Winter Fancy Food Show was held in San Francisco last month and we were able to see some of the current flavor trends and those that will be popular in the coming years. Overall, we’re seeing a continued trend of health and wellness focus, transparency with simple, clean labels, and nostalgic flavors. Although it might seem to counteract the healthy food trend, there is also a rising movement of more indulgent snack options. Consumers want balance and are willing to snack more indulgently if the flavor is strong. Some specific flavor highlights include:

Mango Madness

Mango has been a trendy fruit flavor for sweet snacks for the past few years and is seeing an increase on the salty side of snacks too. It’s often paired with habanero for a sweet, spicy combo that works well. Some of our favorite mango snacks include Mango Tango and Mini Fruit Mix.

Dwight Schrute would Approve

Beets are more popular than ever before. Similar to how quinoa was relatively unknown to most consumers before it exploded onto the market, beets are forging a similar path. They’ve gone from a niche food item to a mainstream snack and can be seen in chips and cookies.

Toffee is the new Caramel

Toffee is often considered an old-fashioned flavor, but it’s seeing new light with an emergence of salty and sweet snacks. Toffee was found in peanuts, popcorn and pretzels at the show. One of our favorite toffee snacks is our Butter Toffee Peanuts.

Around the World

Japanese was the trendiest ethnic flavor this year with Indian flavors continuing to be popular. Turmeric flavor is especially hot and continues to be found in a variety of snacks.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Continuing the fruity flavor trend, banana flavoring was found in sweet items like cookies, salty chips and even banana milk. It’s a traditional flavor that consumers are comfortable with, but it’s being used in new and exciting ways with different flavor combinations. Go Bananas and Tahitian Gold are always a good snack mix choices.

Bite-Size Breakfast

Bite-size snacks with maximum nutritional value are gaining speed, especially protein bites that could be enjoyed as a snack or grab-and-go breakfast alternative.

Savor these Snacks

Savory bars and cookies were all throughout the show floor with traditionally savory flavors like pepper, thyme, cheese and sesame. Also popular were “Crisps” being used as a snack identifier and description to convey a lighter snack option.