If there’s one thing foodservice providers should be zeroing in on, it’s flavor. Today’s consumers, who eat out regularly and pay attention to social media, are always seeking new tastes and flavor profiles to delight their palate and provide a new experience.

“Consumers have a higher set point of fear after Covid,” said Suzy Badaracco, president of Culinary Tides, a trend foresights company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “They want to experience strong flavors, new flavors and global flavors. Exploration is a psychological driver. It offers optimism, control, learning, reward and distraction.”

And social media is fueling, inspiring and educating shoppers on bold and compelling options from around the world, said Chelsey Capps, director of thought leadership for Daymon, a private label consulting company in Stamford, Connecticut. In fact, 84% of consumers who actively seek out new flavors cited social media as their primary information source, according to data from Mintel.

According to Mintel’s Global Consumer Survey, 36% of consumers like trying flavors they’re unfamiliar with. And while most of us are up for trying something new, Gen Z and Millennials are the most experiential when it comes to trying new flavors, said Capps. “Over 90% of Gen Z and Millennials say they seek out new food and beverage flavors, with the majority citing ‘the wilder the better,’” she said.

“For younger consumers, bold flavors are the norm,” said Mike Kostyo, vice president, Menu Matters in Arlington, Vermont. “For any brand, the focus should be on leveraging the bold, interesting flavor trends that excite consumers and keep the brand relevant. Stop playing it safe.”

Heating Up

According to Daymon research, 84% of consumers eat spicy foods at least sometimes, with 43% of shoppers saying they regularly eat and enjoy spicy food. The number is even higher for Gen Z at 61%.

Euromonitor tracked that a fifth of new product launches in 2023 had a spicy flavor.

“Consumers’ love of spice and heat continues to grow and evolve,” said Kostyo. “When you see a national brand like Campbell’s adding ghost pepper to chicken noodle soup, you know American consumers’ capacity to embrace heat has reached a new level. With more well-known brands offering spicier flavor profiles, it not only gives other brands permission to increase the heat levels in their own menu items or products, but it also means brands have to work harder to differentiate themselves.”

They can do this by using more complex peppers or pepper blends, he points out, or even inserting heat into new categories like desserts. Spicy garlic and spicy mustard are also popular spicy flavor combos.

Swicy flavors are also on the rise, and consumers can’t get enough of this blend of spicy and sweet food. Daymon research shows that of shoppers who enjoy spicy food, four in 10 specifically also like swicy flavor profiles. This could be something like hot chili pepper and lime; or sweet chili jalapeño, said Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president and chief advisor, consumer goods and foodservice insights at Chicago-based market research company Circana.

Hot honey is also booming. It’s a “unique yet accessible flavor,” said Capps, and is often found in products like pizza, sandwiches and roller grill items. Although this trend has been around since 2021, it’s now proliferating, said Jaclyn Marks, senior publications manager and trendologist with Datassential. Hot honey is up 128% on menus over the past four years according to Datassential’s Menu Trends platform.

Along with swicy, there’s also swokey (sweet and smoky) and swalty (sweet and salty), pointed out Badaracco.

Mashups and Flavor Fusions

Fusion food is nothing new. Restaurants have been combining global cuisine for years, but some unusual combos are showing up as of late—dill pickle in desserts, or adding alcohol flavors, like Fireball whisky, to food are a few examples, said Lyons Wyatt.

“Fusing emerging flavors with mainstream flavors makes products more approachable by bridging the gap,” added Jillian Hermanowicz, spokesperson, Florida Food Products, a Eustis, Florida-based company that offers ingredient solutions. For example, fusing a classic flavor like French vanilla with lavender in a product like iced lattes “adds excitement, which drives trial.”

Maeve Webster, president of Menu Matters, is seeing fusion that’s based on a chef’s background rather than simply mashing different countries’ foods together, “so the fusions are going to be more organic and built from experience,” she said.

Badaracco expects to see food combinations that bring together flavors from different cuisines, such as tikka sauce wings, birria ramen and sashimi tostadas.

A Sense of Longing

According to Mintel, 55% of consumers said they would purchase an LTO with nostalgic ingredients. But these don’t have to be old-fashioned creations. Capps is seeing nostalgic flavors that are dynamically paired with new and exciting flavors.

At Rutter’s, the retailer is offering products that reimagine “flavors reminiscent of childhood treats, such as cereal-flavored snacks,” said Philip Santini, senior director of advertising and foodservice.

Nostalgic flavors include dessert and breakfast flavors, such as maple and French toast—staples of childhood, said Hermanowicz.

Consumers’ love of spice and heat continues to grow and evolve.

Even the sports nutrition category has flavors that hearken back to childhood treats. 1440 Foods introduced two nostalgic flavors—brownie and caramel churro—to its Pure Protein line of protein bars.

Nostalgia is trending “because things are so anxiety-inducing for consumers right now as they think about the election, economy and global issues,” said Kostyo. For older consumers, this means remembering a more carefree time in their lives, he said, and for younger consumers, it’s era envy, “meaning consumers are envious of times they didn’t even experience because they associate them with simpler times and less stress.”

Convenience stores should keep up with relaunches to play to consumers’ desire for nostalgia, said Kostyo. “You can imagine a Dunkaroos-flavored coffee beverage or Viennetta individual dessert bar, to name just two brands that Millennials in particular have brought back from extinction. But that need to escape is a key need across all demographics. C-stores should lean into that escapist desire.”

A Boost in Beverages

Beverages are a great place to experiment with flavor because they’re inexpensive and are an area where consumers—especially younger ones—like to experiment. Look no further than Doritos x Empirical, a distilled spirit featuring Doritos Nacho Cheese.

Beverage is the perfect format for flavor innovation, and it continues to be where consumers push the boundaries and expectations on flavors, said Florida Food’s Hermanowicz.

Mexican flavors are driving some beverage trends. Horchata has seen a 33% four-year increase on coffee menus in product formats such as iced lattes and frappes, she added.

Lyons Wyatt is seeing a lot of nostalgia in beverages, such as candy flavors added to soda or alcoholic drinks, but said she wouldn’t be shocked to see the reverse happen, especially with candy.

And dessert-inspired flavors are proliferating in cold and frozen coffee—according to Datassential, 69% of consumers eat or drink an indulgent treat weekly. “In cold and frozen coffee beverages we see dessert flavors ranging from the nostalgic birthday cake, red velvet and creme brûlée to globally inspired flavors such as churros and tres leches,” said Hermanowicz.

According to Datassential, Millennials have the strongest interest in frozen treats as a snack, followed closely by Gen Z consumers, who also visit c-stores more frequently than older generations. “They are an important demographic to appeal to,” said Florida Food’s Hermanowicz.

Where in the World?

As consumers are exposed to more flavors through travel or social media, more global flavor profiles are making their way into products and onto foodservice menus.

Asian food flavors are popping up in restaurants, such as the masala veggie burger at A&W, and in packaged snacks and drinks (like the mango tamarind White Claw or jalapeno-flavored evaporated milk from Carnation).

Vietnamese flavors in particular “have been making waves across QSRs,” said Erica Holland-Toll, culinary director at The Culinary Edge in San Francisco. She highlighted the banh mi fried chicken promotion from fast casual chain Starbird, as well as Hannah’s Bretzel and TGI Fridays exploring banh mis as part of their LTOs. She’s also seeing a rise in Vietnamese pickles on grocery shelves.

At Rutter’s, classic Asian flavors such as Korean BBQ and Szechuan peppercorn are also gaining traction. Santini is seeing taste profiles from Asian countries, especially Korea and Japan, influencing the rise in spicy and umami profiles, while Latin American flavors, particularly from Mexico, “are popular for their sweet and spicy combinations,” he said.

Latin and Hispanic flavors are the norm, according to Kostyo, but “Asian-inspired flavors are what excite.” Consumers, particularly younger ones, simply expect Latin flavors because they eat them all the time, but from an innovation and excitement standpoint, “they get excited about the sweet and unique flavor profiles and concepts inspired by Asian markets, social media trends and street foods,” he explained.

Scandinavian cuisine “is finally poised for more significant growth and more innovation inspiration,” said Webster. She also expects to see increased awareness of, and engagement in, cuisines from the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Horchata has seen a 33% four-year increase on coffee menus.

Enhancing Fruity Flavors

Fruit flavors are also seeing new combinations and fusions across the entire food and beverage segment.

Capps said tropical fruit flavors are “poised for success … particularly when dynamically paired to create desirable and interesting new flavors like watermelon mango.”

Yuzu, a type of Japanese citrus, is up 43% on beverage menus, according to Datassential’s Menu Trends platform, and it’s appearing in everything from beverages (Shake Shack, for instance, has offered a yuzu honey lemonade) to salad dressings to baked goods. Unique fruit blends, like pineapple and habanero, are becoming more available in beverage options.

The sweet-savory pairing is cropping up in new pastries and desserts, said Webster, particularly combining Japanese and Asian flavor elements into more American or European formats. “It’s toning down the sweet elements and upping the savory to rethink what those pastries and desserts could be and the types of occasions they are best for,” she explained.

Florals and Botanicals

Expect to see more floral and botanical flavors like jasmine, rose, lavender, hibiscus and eucalyptus in 2025.

Starbucks recently featured an iced lavender cream oatmilk matcha, which “bridges the larger trend of food-meets-beauty,” said Marks. According to Datassential’s Menu Trends platform, lavender is up 41% on menus over the past four years, and Datassential’s AI-powered trend prediction platform Menucast estimates lavender will grow another 38% on menus over the next four years.

Floral flavors, including chamomile, honeysuckle and rose, are the fastest-growing botanical flavor trends in packaged foods, according to Innova Market Insights. The Arnhem, Netherlands-based company’s research shows many consumers perceive that products with these natural elements are good for their health.

Where Flavor Is Most Prevalent

New and unique flavors are most commonly appearing in snacks and beverages because these are low-commitment items for consumers to buy. They’re inexpensive and small, and so are lower risk, even if adventurous flavors have become the norm for younger generations.

Adding an unusual flavor like basil or rosemary to a snack “can feel unique but not overwhelming,” according to a survey by Kantar and Mintel.

“Flavor virtually has no bounds for application in convenience stores, but top category players most often include foodservice, nuts, chips, non-chocolate, bakery or pastry programs, and RTD beverages,” Capps added.

At Rutter’s, snacks such as potato chips, nuts and popcorn “are leading the way,” said Santini. “Beverages, including energy drinks, sparkling water and craft sodas are also incorporating these trends. We’re looking at ways to incorporate these items into our foodservice program.”

He expects to see new limited-edition flavors in snacks and beverages, cross-category products like spicy beverages or sweet-savory snacks, and enhanced flavor profiles in staple items such as chips and energy drinks.

Kostyo pointed to the popularity of drink flavor combos, citing examples like Starbucks’ lavender lattes and spicy cold drink offerings. “The demand for drink innovation is particularly true for c-stores, where the consumer base expects really unique, bold, interesting flavors and textures,” he said. “Dirty sodas, popping bubbles, spicy and floral beverages, infused cold foams, unique seasonal options, and even envelope-pushing drink flavors like pickle that do well on social media excite and entice the c-store consumer. You need those.”