The Winter Fancy Food Show will showcase the latest specialty food innovations. During a webinar last week, Denise Purcell, VP of resource development at Specialty Food Association, and Jen Cohan, PR consultant, previewed for attendees the categories, flavors, and ingredients that will be prominently displayed at the Show.
Their findings are based on SFA's Trendspotter Panel’s ongoing work, category forecasts, consumer preferences noted in SFA's annual research, and exhibitors’ reports of what’s new.
Purcell noted that standout products often incorporate multiple trends. Offerings that exemplify elevated convenience, for example, may appear in a frozen format or as a meal kit, while also including globally inspired flavors.
“If I had to do an overview of 2024, it would be ‘maximize flavor, pleasure, and experience while minimizing stress and mess,’” said Purcell.
Cohan agreed, adding that there is a persistent demand for cooking restaurant-quality meals at home following the pandemic. Meal kits make it easy for consumers to do that, she said. Kits are also amplified by finishing sauces and finishing butters that maximize flavor and convenience.
Purcell said that frozen appetizers, snacks, and entrees are expected to be the highest growers in the five-year forecast included in SFA's State of the Specialty Food Industry report, 2023-2024 Edition, with a compound annual growth rate forecast to grow 6.4 percent by 2027. There is a strong demand for the benefits that the format provides, she said.
Global flavors are also taking hold in crunchy snacks, where makers are experimenting with new grains, seeds, and millets, and regional flavors, particularly in chips. Saucy Ladies, for instance, makes chips that incorporate truffle as well as the flavors of marinara or arrabbiata sauces.
“Chips can serve as a good platform for interesting flavors,” said Cohan. Wine Chips, noted Cohan, creates snacks that are formulated to pair well with wine. Regional flavors include Sel Gris using gray salt from France, a Spicy Calabrese that borrows components from Calabrian sausage meats, and Hawaiian Red Sea Salt.
Crunchy snacks also leverage the environmental impact trend, with ingredients from many snack makers coming from regenerative, sustainable, or organic crops. Purcell and Cohan noted that consumers continue to look for products with a social mission.
To learn more about the trends that will be featured at the Show, watch the webinar on-demand in the SFA Learning Center. The session is free for members and non-members alike.
While on the website, you can also download The State of the Specialty Food Industry and 10-Year Category Tracking and Forecasts, 2023-2024 Edition, and Today's Specialty Food Consumer, 2023-2024 Edition.
Related: SFA's Trendspotters Prognosticate 2024 Trends; (included) Cohort to Take Part in Supplier Diversity Pavilion