Made for any snacking occasion or in-home entertaining, the crackers pack a bold flavor and are a versatile base to upgrade snacking moments.

Fruit Punch and Pineapple Coconut are joining the party alongside the classics, Citrus and Island. All four offerings of TAMPICO Hard Punch feature a smoother, more flavorful experience thanks to a new, lower 5% ABV, and for the first time are now available in a six-pack format.

“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."

Joan Driggs, Circana’s vice president for content and thought leadership, sits down with Prepared Foods to break down trends fueling success for Circana’s top New Product Pacesetters at both the retail and convenience store channels.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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 first new flavor innovation since 2022, the addition features berry flavored bite-sized chocolate treats with a smooth peanut butter center that will transport fans to the comforting experience of a PB&J sandwich.

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.

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 latest product innovation showcases the just-baked texture, organic ingredients, and whole grain nutrition that consumers know paired with plant-based protein for that extra boost.

Individually wrapped and appropriate for grab-and-go snacks between meals, find these new bars on Amazon and in retailers nationwide for an SRP of $7.99-8.99. 

According to the survey, conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation and the American Heart Association, almost all Americans (95%) report that they always or sometimes look for healthy options when food shopping.

The US Food and Drug Administration launched an initiative to help consumers use the new Nutrition Facts label that appears on packaged foods to maintain healthy dietary practices.

The popular White Cheddar Mac & Cheese is now available in a new size that offers five different preparation methods to suit kitchens of any size, including boil-in-bag, microwave, pizza oven/impinger, rapid-cook oven, and steamer. 

Smashburger, the better-burger fast casual restaurant with 235 corporate and franchise locations, partnered with jack and annie's to launch a new plant-based burger made from jackfruit in all locations across the US.

One of my biggest observations of The National Restaurant Show involves the reformulation or “remake” of many products made with familiar ingredients and flavors. Both shows reminded me of elements from my childhood, and particularly how my grandmother cooked. She worked as a cook 41 years for a first-generation family from Italy. 

Prepared Foods gets the inside scoop on foodservice new product development in an interview with Michael S. Zeller, Senior Corporate Executive Chef, R&D, at Simplot Food Group.

"I would like to thank the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association for hosting the World Dairy Expo competition platform. Winning 65 awards is a great honor, and not only did we top last year's number of WDE awards, but we also retained our place as the competition's most-awarded dairy," said Matt McClelland, Prairie Farms CEO/EVP. 

BACARDÍ Mixed with Coca-Cola RTD will be available in several markets around the world, with the initial launch planned for select European markets and Mexico in 2025.

Stash Tea’s new Tea Latte Concentrates offer teaheads a bold and unique way to enjoy café-quality lattes at home, catering to the growing consumer trend of at-home tea consumption which amounted to $2.92 billion in sales in 2024. 

Introducing a new super brand dedicated to all things flooring: FLOOR Trends & Installation.

Metroflor recently released the Dr. Russ video campaign to communicate one of the company's core values, "Take fun seriously," to customers.

What's happening in the residential and commercial flooring markets? While the flooring and interiors market remained challenged in the first half of 2024, there are modest signs of an impending recovery. 

Inspired by the classic Tex-Mex dish, Bob Evans Queso Macaroni & Cheese features a rich queso flavor, hints of spice and fresh green and red peppers to bring bold, authentic flavors to gatherings. 

The new ECOsurfaces Desert & River commercial flooring line from Ecore, a company that transforms reclaimed materials into high-performance products that make people’s lives better, offers the architect and design community an innovative solution that fuses aesthetics and sustainability with ergonomics, acoustics and safety.

With this sponsorship, Shaw Floors’ Pet Perfect innovations and branding will be featured throughout the “Pet Perfect Puppies at the Playoff” activation within Playoff Fan Central. 

Co-manufacturer Cascade Coffee adds automation to its secondary packaging operations by adding six cobot palletizing units.

The $100 million facility will be largely dedicated to Goldfish and Pepperidge Farm production.

Domotex announced it will move its 2025 Carpet & Rugs edition, originally scheduled for January 2025, to Domotex 2026.  

Roland Thompson, owner, Thompson Flooring & Installation and CFI member, was recently appointed to CFI Board Chair to help revamp the association’s chapter program. Here, he talks about his new position and CFI’s plans to grow the program. 

The INSTALL Warranty Contractor designation is a unique offering in the flooring industry because it guarantees that the installation work is of the highest quality and stands behind that guarantee with a free extended warranty on labor.

Fishman Flooring’s new president Shane Richmond discusses the benefit of Employee Stock Ownership Plans, succession planning and the future of flooring distribution. 

No doubt, artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay, but how is it being utilized in flooring installation? App developer and installer Jason Potts walks us through the newest features of AI bot Ballin Knows Best and what it means for the future of installation.

The sampling was conducted to better understand the extent to which these products potentially contain unintended milk at levels that may be hazardous to people with milk allergy.

The new ovens at the Sunland Park location are state-of-the-art six-truck, dual-purpose ovens, meaning that they have the capability of both smoking and sous vide cooking.

ProMach’s Wine & Spirits Solutions team is positioned to solve the unique challenges of processing and packaging traditional bottled products, small-format bottles and ready-to-drink (RTD) products in cans and single-serve bottles.

Bell & Evans earned our 2022 award by establishing a new benchmark for innovation and efficiency in a poultry plant, while elevating employee and animal welfare.

Food Engineering's 41st annual Plant Construction Survey reveals that the ratio of the number of plant renovations and expansions versus new, greenfield projects has again risen from last year, indicating several owners and operators are trying to stay put.

Choosing and installing the correct commercial floor covering can be a detailed and complicated process that necessarily looks beyond aesthetic preference and examines every aspect of the installation, beginning with the substrate and its condition and ending with the required maintenance regimen once the flooring is installed.

The Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF), in partnership with the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) Innovation Center, Drake State Community College, and the Industry Task Force, announced the completion of its first pilot cohort for the Flooring Installation Technicians course.

Wheat processor Crespel & Deiters commissioned the construction of a €18.5 million ($20.7 million) silo building at its main site in Ibbenbüren, Germany at the beginning of the year – the largest single investment in infrastructure in the company’s history. 

Melt&Marble has scaled its fat fermentation process to tens of thousands of liters, paving the way for commercial scale production and broader application testing.

Despite tough market conditions, Floor & Decor saw slight sales growth of 0.9% to $1.12 billion in third quarter 2024, though net income fell 21.6% and same-store sales dropped 6.4%. The retailer maintained aggressive expansion, adding 11 new stores and planning 10 more openings in fourth quarter.

Floor & Decor appointed Nada Aried, executive vice president and Chief Digital Technology Officer of Safelite Autoglass, to its board of directors effective January 1, 2025.

The new retail program will include sales tools to incentivize and educate the salesperson – including a few “wow” surprises from "Fixer to Fabulous” stars Dave and Jenny Marrs.

In last year’s February issue, I wrote about how I was trying to overcome the depressing sight of snow and ice on the ground by thinking ahead to April and our annual Food Automation & Manufacturing Conference in Miami. The more things change …