The Specialty Food Association (SFA) hosted 10 students from the Drexel Food Lab/Certificate in Food Entrepreneurship and Innovation programs during the 2024 Summer Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center in New York City. With Gen Z consumers spending around 40% of their grocery budgets on specialty items, insights from college-aged food enthusiasts are a hot commodity as the industry looks to maintain its growth into the future.
Following three days of snacking, walking, and talking with vendors from 56 countries across the world, the Junior Trendspotters determined five standout trends, listed below, through a Gen Z lens.
Led by Drexel Food Lab Associate Director Chef Rachel Sherman along with Drexel University Professor Jonathan Deutsch and Chef Brooke Olasewere, this year’s Junior Trendspotters team included:
- Felicia Yan
- Belinda Faakye
- Zae’Onah Howell
- Adam Gladstone
- Victoria Sanchez-Galarza
- Alessandra Mora
- Alex Ly
- Gabe Thayer
- Jocelyn Leal
- DeAndra Forde
“We were so honored to be invited to the Fancy Food Show this year. It is a great way for our students to see how broad the food industry is and understand the impact of the work we do at the lab,” said Drexel Food Lab Associate Director Chef Rachel Sherman. “I find it encouraging to see what products and trends jump out to them. Each student found at least one highlight that I missed. With such a big show it can be easy to overlook something, and students have a great eye for finding standouts amongst the excitement. We ran into multiple alums who were showcasing this year, inspiring the next generation of food professionals.”
The Summer Fancy Food Show Junior Trendspotters identified the following top trends:
Beverage boom: Innovation in beverages continues—this year, many were sparkling, cocktail-inspired, or had functional attributes. Brands like Kombucharista combine multiple elements with non-alcoholic, cocktail flavored, gut-healthy, prepared drinks. Bluestem Botanicals, who use herbs in organic mocktail kits, and Seraphim Beverages, who have pioneered a non-alcoholic wine, display the market is ripe with non-alcoholic offerings. Ceybon comes in with mushroom-infused aperitif and elixir concentrates, which create the perfect backdrop for non-alcoholic, wellness cocktails. Unity rounds out this category with natural energy drinks with adaptogens for extra health benefits. The growing trend is clean labels and additional health benefits without compromising on taste. Finally, the dry beverage market has also expanded. Pinky Up offers boba in a tea bag while Everydaze Reset Kombucha has powdered kombucha in a variety of flavors.
Crunchy snacks: If you ever wanted to make a loud announcement when walking into a room, you now have endless edible means to do so. In the snack category, there was great innovation and experimentation that highlighted new methods of producing snacks, ingredients, and flavors. Mr. Mushroom features vacuum-fried vegetables such as mushrooms (shocker), tomatoes, and lotus root. Similarly, freeze dried snacks are being brought to the market by brands like Uptop Treats and Pocas. Brands like Bret’s Chips has expanded the classic potato chip into gourmet flavors like camembert and summer truffle. Everyone is bound to find a new favorite snack!
Global flavors: With the summer months here, everyone seems to be going somewhere. Can’t afford a plane ticket but don’t want to miss out on the fun? No worries! Travel the world in less than 80 days with sauces and spices from Watcharee (Thailand), Perfeito (Brazil), HOXY (Korea), and Brundo (Ethiopia). Kasé’s dashi soy sauce, Pink Salt’s Nam Prik Pao, and Auria’s hot chili sambal can brighten up a meal. Prepared foods like Xinca's pupusas, Doro’s Cheesy Korean Rice Cakes, and snacks like HBAF's impressive flavor library like tteok-bokki almonds or cheeseburger popcorn exhibit how global flavors have popularized across the industry.
Flours beyond whole wheat: As gluten-free snack innovation continues, we see a wider variety of featured alternatives. Diggables strays from the traditional with buckwheat puffs. In the same vein, Sorghum Symphony’s puffed snacks include global flavors like churro and curry while Yuca Balls offers a crunchy cassava snack. Ieialel offers dehydrated fermented millet flour while Local village has ready to eat sorghum grain in brine along with their sorghum, teff, and tiger nut flours. For Good granola features buckwheat in their oat free granola. Yolélé has expanded fonio to the American market with chips made from the African grain.
Honey everything: Honey is having a moment. From hot honey to honey tea and sauces, you could not walk more than an aisle or two without tasting a honey product. Explorer has a honey chai concentrate, Savannah Bee Company launched a honey hot sauce. Fresh Fizz sweetens their sodas with honey. Casa Folino’s set out a wide array of flavored honey like bergamot, lemon, and balsamic. Bumbleberry farms featured their peach vanilla cream spread. Zen Bear has a selection of honey teas. Honey B has a sparkling honey drink and the list goes on. But of course, purists could always choose one of the many honeys brought by vendors from all over the world.
