The Kearney Private Label Report shows an industry with the wind at its back, with positive demographic trends, category proliferation that fills in gaps in national brands’ portfolios, the quality-to-value equation being increasingly recognized by shoppers, and a strong potential boost to retailer economics. 

There is some indication that “pickle flavor” is experiencing its highest search interest in years. Perhaps that has led to such an explosion of pickle-flavor products on the market in summer 2024.

Gen Z consumers are just starting to learn their way around a kitchen and will want to advance their cooking skills but also balance quick dinner meals. 

We’ve pinpointed four flavors for 2025, each representing opportunity for differentiation while aligning with larger, sustaining trends. As we see them take shape on restaurant menus, each also promises opportunity in the retail space, offering a parallel path for consumer exploration and adoption. 

Each year, the fall season ushers in hundreds of new and limited-time offer introductions to retail and foodservice channels. It would be a fool's errand to list all of the products featuring fall flavors in 2024, but Prepared Foods has compiled a list of some of the most compelling examples.

Whether you are a retail store, manufacturer, ingredient supplier, or a foodservice operator looking to capitalize on the next food or beverage trend, having relevant data allows you to make better decisions that affect your bottom line.

As inflation slowly moderates, US consumers continue to feel the pinch of higher food costs. Value retailers are seeing more foot traffic as shoppers shift to store brands and cut back on non-food expenses. According to Circana, formerly IRI and The NPD Group, consumers are looking for ways to make their budgets stretch, from canceling subscriptions to favoring at-home meals over dining out.

“Consumers are looking for wellness across every aspect of their lives, and food and beverages are playing a critical role in this transformation,” said Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president and chief advisor at Circana. 

There will be an increase in diversified ingredient sourcing, while the humanization of technology will be essential for consumers who are apprehensive about technology being used to create, modify and produce the food they put into their bodies.

The Whole Foods Market Trends Council – a collective of more than 50 Whole Foods Market team members ranging from foragers and buyers to culinary experts – develop these trend predictions each year through a combination of deep industry experience, keen observation of consumer preferences, and collaborative sessions with emerging and established brands.

Parents care about health and wellness for their children, and their purchasing patterns drive innovation toward healthier children’s food and beverage products. We see growth in numerous categories in children’s products that are positioned as healthy and better-for-you, including dairy alternatives as well as new items in the sweet and savory bakery, and confectionery categories.  

Made with Bob’s Red Mill’s signature blends of premium flours and quality pantry staples, each mix delivers light and fluffy pancakes in minutes. And, with home cooks preferring recipes with a short list of ingredients, they’ll become an essential shortcut for easy, convenient breakfasts with scratch-quality homemade taste. 

Ellison Bakery is a manufacturer of cookies, snack bars, crunches, toppings, and inclusion ingredients for retail, food service and private label end markets. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1983, Ancient Harvest pioneered the sale of quinoa in the US and continues to be a leading brand of value-added, plant-based products including gluten-free pasta, polenta and a brand of quinoa. 

The role of chocolate is growing and expanding from the classic sweet confections to combinations of sweet and spicy as well as in savory products.

With a career spanning 23 years at PepsiCo, Del Pozzo brings a wealth of experience in leading growth and transformation for some of the world's most recognizable consumer brands such as Gatorade®, Propel®, Muscle Milk® and Evolve®. 

The innovative and award-winning mini flatbreads are baked with upcycled flour, made from barley, wheat and rye rescued at the end of the beer making process. 

This summer’s Sweets & Snack Expo in Indianapolis drew more than 16,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors, from 25 countries. The trends I noticed involve lots of activity around texture—including freeze-dried candies and crunchy and chewy protein snacks. There also are intriguing new flavors in snacks and chips. 

Like all YumEarth treats, the sour bites are free from of the top 9 allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish, gluten, shellfish, soy, and sesame), contain no artificial dyes, are non- GMO, and made with organic and simple ingredients.

Whether only needing a few cupcakes for a friend or a full pan of brownies for a group, Krusteaz Batters meet any occasion and stay fresh for up to seven days in the refrigerator after opening, ready for whenever the baking mood strikes.

The 169,000sq-ft facility is an expansion of Ferrero's existing manufacturing campus in Bloomington. CRUNCH, 100 Grand, Raisinets, and other chocolate products are made at the campus, and it is also now home to the company's first-ever chocolate factory outside of Europe. 

Wild Berry to Coolmint brings together the best of both fruity and minty flavors, while Wintergreen to Coolmint offers a double hit of two popular mint flavors for the ultimate refreshing taste.

A pilot program brings together financial support from Kellanova, Ahold Delhaize USA, and Bartlett to aid wheat farmers in North Carolina who are adopting regenerative agricultural methods. The wheat from these farms will be combined with conventionally grown wheat to produce Cheez-It® crackers.

Each rope is stuffed with flavor from the inner filling to the outer layer, ensuring a taste experience that hits with every chew. 

Last Crumb’s head baker and co-founder acquired fresh ube (a sweet potato variety characterized by its bright purple color) directly from the Philippines (the country his family hails from) to produce the items. The newest cookie harnesses the sweet, nutty richness of ube, with no food dyes.

The concept for this snack was born in the Myna Snacks Lab, a unique platform that invites our passionate community of snack enthusiasts to share their ideas, preferences, and cravings.

Mars knows that c-store shoppers and those on the go are adventurous with their purchases, making variety key to winning in the c-store space. The latest Mars Wrigley innovations and offerings aim to fuel category growth and provide new options to consumers.

Designed with Gen-Z Chips Ahoy! lovers in mind – this oversized treat is perfect for on-the-go snacking during their busy lives or to split with a friend.

“If your company manufactures yogurt or other cultured dairy products—such as frozen yogurt and kefir—and you are interested in using the LAC Seal on your products, IDFA is now making it easier than ever to obtain the seal for use on product packaging and labels, demonstrating to consumers and other customers that your products contain valuable live and active yogurt cultures,” said John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and administrator of the IDFA’s LAC Seal program. “The LAC Seal is the best way to reach consumers with this unique health and wellness attribute.”

“Truffle is a beloved flavor that provides decadent luxury; combining with our rich and bold White Cheddar delivers the best of both worlds,” said Amanda Vaal, brand director at Cracker Barrel Cheese. “Dill also continues to be high in demand, delivering a sharp and savory twist to a snacking classic.”

Dr. Wagoner brings more than 10 years of experience in dairy products research and innovation to the role. He got his start as a trained chef at the California School of Culinary Arts before obtaining his BS, MS, and PhD in Food Science from North Carolina State University. 

Students Anandu Chandra Khanashyam, Abrielle Schnurr, Nghi Huynh and Suchismita Roy are studying food science and earned the first-place prize of $10,000. 

Tate & Lyle will be the exclusive sponsor of the Scientific & Technical Forum: Health & Nutrition, which includes five dynamic and engaging interdisciplinary panel discussions with speakers from across the industry.

Amano Enzyme experts are also presenting as part of the official IFT FIRST 2024 education program. Monica Henry, Scientist at Amano Enzyme, is presenting the session, “Improvement of Physical Properties in High Protein Plant-Based Cheese with Enzymatic Treatment,” on Tuesday, July 16, at 12:00 p.m. CDT. 

Combined, McEvoy and Jankowski bring more than 50 years of exceptional contributions to Sargento. They will continue to provide strategic counsel by staying on as advisors to the senior leadership team through the end of the year.

Tate & Lyle PLC unveils its new stevia composition, OPTIMIZER STEVIA® 8.10. This innovative ingredient delivers the highly desired premium taste profile closest to sugar, even at high sugar replacement levels, while offering a more cost-effective solution than other premium sweeteners.

The FDA’s GRAS notification signifies transparency, ensures safety for food manufacturers and is essential for all manufacturers to produce in or export to the North American market. 

To develop the final collaborative ice cream flavors, the McConnell’s and See’s teams innovated to merge the top beloved See’s Candies pieces with McConnell’s house-made artisan ice cream bases to create four custom-confection flavors for fans.

Planteneers’ new space can host customers for collaborative product development sessions with a full plant-based meat laboratory and a plant-based dairy laboratory (coming online soon-). The Aurora building also houses sales, distribution, marketing, product managers and R&D team members.

Developed to help the American Red Cross and Chobani's local food bank and pantry partners, Chobani Super Milk addresses a critical need by providing access to nutrient-dense, high-protein, low-fat dairy to those who need it most.

International Delight rolled out its latest holiday flavor edition, new Hot Chocolate Marshmallow Creamer, along with returning favorites Frosted Sugar Cookie Creamer, Peppermint Mocha Creamer, Peppermint Mocha Zero Sugar Creamer and Peppermint Mocha Iced Coffee.

The everything bagel flavor category is growing 20 times faster than other cheese flavors, however, most everything bagel flavored products on the market are limited to the cracker, chip and pretzel categories. The Laughing Cow Everything Bagel Style is a unique option for fans to enjoy the cheese wedges in a new way.

Bobo's, known for oat bars, oat bites and baked goods, announced its new partnership with Rabobank's Acorn initiative (Acorn) to help Colorado's snack brand reach its carbon neutrality goals and further invest in a more sustainable future.

WK Kellogg Co. introduced its latest cereal brand, Eat Your Mouth Off, drawing inspiration from its century-old startup values. Eat Your Mouth Off is an innovative, vegan cereal containing 22g of plant-based protein, 0g of sugar, and 2g of net carbs or less per serving.

Catalina Crunch®'s extensive line of cereals, cookies and snacks has gained widespread recognition for its emphasis on providing cleaner products that are low sugar and high protein without compromising on flavor. 

The Cookie Granola marries the brand's granola with its cookie recipe for a snackable granola cluster that has the flavor and crispy texture of a cookie.

The Frozen Greek Yogurt Bars are inspired by Snoop Cereal flavors, this partnership symbolizes a fusion of culinary creativity and a joint commitment to quality and community empowerment.

This new syrup, developed with Dunkin' culinary experts, mirrors the sweet vanilla flavor notes of a fried glazed donut. 

This innovative product provides consumers with a rich and creamy texture, similar to Icelandic Provisions traditional dairy skyr, with 12g of protein and simple plant-based ingredients.

This fall saw Chocolove, Boulder, Colo., return with seasonal favorites, Tree-Shaped Bites, as well as holiday collection bars. Chocolove holiday collection bars include Candy Cane Crunch in Dark Chocolate, Frosted Gingerbread in Milk Chocolate, and a Fruit-Nut Medley in Dark Chocolate.