After navigating a couple years of food inflation and then “shrinkflation,” a pandemic, and changing beverage preferences, CPGs are expected to respond to consumers’ needs with nutrient-dense products and creative beverages.
Food manufacturers will navigate a diverse set of consumer needs in 2025 and what seems like a massive reset in how the industry develops and packages snacks as well as better-for-you and novel ingredients. All of this, with the specter of possible tariffs from the new presidential administration affecting the ingredients sector, 2025 promises to be intriguing for the food industry.
“If prices do rise due to the incoming administration’s promise of tariffs, we’ll see consumers doing one of two things: trading down to less expensive brands, and/or saving their snacking spend to focus on purchasing their absolute favorite products (or, in some cases, their kids’ favorite products),” said Michele Scott, associate director, U.S. Food & Drink, at Mintel.
“In fact, we’ve already seen some slowing on snacking compared to last year due to rising prices. Otherwise, we can expect further blurring between snacks and meals as consumers redefine for themselves what a snack is,” added Scott. “Consumers don’t necessarily agree on the definition of a snack, which means brands have plenty of room to play with those definitions, too.”
What was once a snack, is now considered a meal. What was once a beverage is now considered medicine or, at the least, a health boost. With these major changes in what consumers want and expect, interesting innovations from food manufacturers are in store.
Here’s a look at six food trends that Food Dive editors and industry experts predict for 2025. From the massive influence GLP-1 users will have on innovation and products, trending aquatic ingredients, and novel beverages to benefit stacking and the always evolving use of AI for production and product formulation.
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Permission granted by Conagra Brands
GLP-1 is not just a phase
“It’s causing a tsunami for the food industry,” said Gary Stibel, founder and CEO of the New England Consulting Group.
The new wave of GLP-1 drugs has food companies researching to fulfill the needs of this new consumer base. Protein, fiber, less sugar as well as convenience are top priority for this group.
Goldman Sachs says the number of GLP-1 users could be as much as 15 million people, or 13% of the U.S. population, by 2030. But that number may be misleading since many consumers also are finding the drugs online or in compound forms not prescribed by doctors and thus, not tracked.
The diabetes and weight-loss drugs suppress appetite, but there is evidence the medications affect what tastes good to people and even what and how they drink.
“Not only do Pop Tarts not really appeal or look great to a user, they also don’t want three boxes of them at a time,” Stibel said.
A study of users of anti-obesity drugs by product innovation specialist Mattson found that the medications massively changed eating and drinking habits.
“Consumers are not just changing their eating habits and wants but consuming less,” said Riley McCarthy, senior project manager at New England Consulting Group.
McCarthy added that the drugs are reported to “physically change taste bugs and sensitivity to sweets.”
“I think there’s opportunities for startups where there’s a complete void in the marketplace… and we think that the frozen food industry has a tremendous opportunity to provide foods and beverages supplements that can help,” said Barb Stuckey, chief innovation and marketing officer at Mattson, in an interview with Food Dive,
Several companies are producing foods and lines marketed to the GLP-1 user. Nestlé launched a line of frozen meals called Vital Pursuit meant for weight-loss drug users. The meals are high in protein and fiber. Nestlé also created a website, as a resource for people managing their weight.
Daily Harvest created a meal kit service that has a GLP-1 food collection. Conagra Foods recently announced that the company will add an “On Track” badge to 26 of its Healthy Choice frozen food items that are focused on GLP-1-friendly foods.
Scott at Mintel added that “protein is (and has been) the top BFY claim consumers look for by a significant margin…Brands may perform better by simply highlighting those nutritional bases without calling out a drug.”
Food trendspotters also see a general re-imagining and reframing of protein foods created by CPGs in the coming year.
“While beef is popular for sticks and jerky, consumers are looking to make varied, healthy choices for poultry, seafood, and even non-meat ‘meaty’ snacks that will sustain them; like turkey sticks, salmon jerky, and mushroom jerky,” said Jenn de la Vega, a Brooklyn-based chef, author, and a specialty food association trend spotter. “It’s about switching it up and having the availability to choose different items every time they open the cupboard or walk into a corner store.”
— Rose Palazzolo
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da-kuk via Getty Images
AI meets the big-time
As artificial intelligence matures, the once futuristic technology is set to become a bigger part of operations at food and beverage companies in 2025.
“Three years ago, there was some interest, but now, when we talk to food and beverage organizations, everyone is interested,” said Mikael Bengtsson, industry and solution strategy director of food and beverage at Infor.
AI is morphing from being used to crunch large volumes of data to identifying trends, such as consumer buying patterns, into one that can help food and beverage companies in more creative ways. These so-called generative AI uses include writing product descriptions, developing a recipe that incorporates that food item or assisting in designing the packaging.
Bengtsson said that while it’s still “pretty early” for companies to use AI this way, it will increasingly become a bigger part of how they do business.
The food and beverage sector “is not an easy business to be in, and with all its challenges that means that efficiency is more important than ever,” Bengtsson said. “The future winners are not the ones who are dodging” AI at their business.
Nearly every company is deploying AI in some way.
Coca-Cola and AB InBev have used it to create products. Unilever utilizes the technology to revolutionize and expedite the way it makes food, leading to the launch of several new products, such as Knorr Zero Salt Cube and Hellmann’s Vegan Mayonnaise. Others have incorporated it into their supply chain to more efficiently move products or assess consumer demand.
Bob Nolan, senior vice president of demand science at Conagra, said the Slim Jim and Healthy Choice manufacturer uses AI to look at all the images in a store to see which colors are most often tied to a specific attribute so “we’re not just guessing.” Purple, for example, is often associated with no or low sugar.
A challenging business environment will make AI more attractive to companies in 2025 as they look to predict demand for their offerings, said Nicholas Wegman, a senior director of artificial intelligence at Zebra Technologies.
After years of passing on price increases, inflation-weary consumers have pushed back and sharply curtailed how much they spend, cutting product volumes at nearly every major food company. This puts further pressure on businesses to predict whether shoppers will accept further price hikes and estimate how much inventory to have available.
“There’s always a point where I can raise prices and it won’t affect demand too much until suddenly it affects demand a lot and you’re in a world of hurt,” said Wegman. “If you don’t use AI [machine learning] models to predict that, your predictions are just going to be way, way off.”
— Christopher Doering
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Courtesy of Campbell’s
CPGs light up portfolios with limited-time offerings
From Oreo’s kooky collaboration with Coca-Cola on co-branded sodas and cookies to Kellanova’s Apple Jack’s Pop-Tart’s, brands in the food and beverage landscape are competing to capture consumers’ shortening attention spans by shaking up their product lines with unique and noteworthy product launches.
In order to induce a sense of scarcity, many brands are using limited-time offerings (LTOs) for novel products, often in collaboration with another brand. While often these products combine the likeness and flavors of several brands under the same company’s portfolio, there are also items that bring together the properties of two or more businesses within the industry.
The Campbell’s Company’s V8 vegetable juice launched a Dill Pickle Bloody Mary cocktail made with Grillo’s Pickles, owned by King’s Hawaiian, last fall. Eddie Andre, Grillo’s vice president of branding, told Food Dive co-branded products have allowed the pickle maker to grow beyond its niche audience by appearing alongside household name brands in new products.
LTOs are a vital part of any merchandising strategy in order to get people talking, according to Dr. Russell Zwanka, professor of food marketing at Western Michigan University.
“Customers are a lot of fun and love to try new things. An LTO gives a customer a compelling reason to buy something and gives them a deadline,” Zwanka said.
Food and beverage provides an added element of virality as consumers are dared to try products with seemingly conflicting tastes — such as PepsiCo’s Flamin’ Hot Mtn Dew flavor.
Zwanka pointed to Mondelez’s Sour Patch Kids flavored Oreo cookies as an example of an enticing collaboration between two brands, as consumers only need to spend a few dollars to give it a try.
“When you have something sour added to something sweet, you’re playing with people’s flavors and palettes a bit,” Zwanka said. “But the beauty of it is you have a reason to buy, because it’s for a limited time only… It’s such a low price threshold for anyone to even care.”
— Chris Casey
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Joe Raedle via Getty Images
Benefit stacking stacks up
Consumers in 2025 are placing more value on food products that contain or “stack” multiple benefits important to them — and product manufacturers are taking notice.
The number of eating behaviors — such as clean label, fiber, gut health, low sugar, sustainability or protein — that the average consumer is involved in has increased to 7.2 in 2024, up from 6.5 a year earlier, according to a study by Ardent Mills, a supplier of ingredients to many of the largest food manufacturers.
Stacking is even more pronounced among younger consumers aged 18-34 where the number of eating interests tops eight.
Before, consumers would “approach food in a sort of one-dimensional approach” by focusing just on a product that is gluten-free or organic, said Matt Schueller, director of insights and analytics for marketing at Ardent Mills. “Now, they’re literally stacking [multiple] priorities” into a single product.
When companies develop a food product, they typically center it around an enduring trend, such as whole grains, protein or immunity. Then, with the help of companies like Ardent Mills, manufacturers look for other attributes they can add, or stack, such as ingredients that are organic or can be sustainably traced.
Stacking can be lucrative with consumers willing to pay more for benefits that matter to them. When a product has several attributes consumers care about, price becomes less of a concern while the perceived value increases.
Schueller said companies will continue looking for opportunities to stack ingredients.
One reason is that consumers continue to be interested in these products. Leaning more into stacking increases the likelihood that shoppers stay with the brand. Another is that with people cutting back on spending due to inflation, they will be less likely to forgo buying a product if it meets many of their interests.
“Consumers are so invested in and actually require foods to meet their particular goals that when they find something that spans multiple benefits, there is deeper engagement and follow through,” Schueller noted.
Hain Celestial, a manufacturer of organic and natural products, said benefit stacking has been especially prominent across its tea line.
Emily Rosen, marketing director at Hain, said the company has observed people brewing a cup of tea during cold and flu season using multiple Celestial Seasonings bags to boost flavors and benefits.
The New Jersey company said other parts of its portfolio, including snacking and meal prep, also are positioned to benefit from stacking.
Rafael Acevedo, president of yogurt at Danone North America, said consumer expectations for food and beverages are high and demand for nutritious food is growing.
He said while this will help sustain benefit stacking, it’s “critical” for companies like Danone to monitor other health trends and movements, such as the rise in weight-loss medications, as they evolve in order to best position their portfolio.
“Danone has one of the most nutrient-dense portfolios in the industry with a variety of products that meet different functional needs, making us well-poised to meet this ‘benefit stacking’ moment,” Acevedo said. Danone’s yogurt portfolio includes Oikos in protein, Too Good & Co. in low sugar and Light & Fit in low calories.
— Christopher Doering
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Courtesy of Poppi
Beverages break category boundaries
As people look for more value out of what they drink, the days of clearly defined beverage categories have gone flat.
Brands are adapting to the changing demands with new product lines that serve several purposes at the same time — with energy drinks, cocktails, coffee and soda increasingly overlapping.
A growing number of consumers are moderating their drinking habits or abstaining from alcohol altogether. Seltzer brands like White Claw are leaning into the growing trend of nonalcoholic cocktails as consumers seek adult drinks that eschew booze. One of the decade’s biggest success stories, water brand Liquid Death, is finding success at bars as a booze-free sparkling option.
At the same time, soda makers are shaking up their formulas to infuse more purported health benefits. Many consumers are turning increasingly to brands like Olipop, Poppi and Health-Ade’s SunSip that include prebiotics and probiotics targeting the gut microbiome. But the efficacy of these brands’ claims have been called into question by some critics.
Meanwhile, giants in the soda category are relying more heavily on unique flavor launches and alcoholic beverages — like Coca-Cola’s collaboration with Jack Daniels and Sprite’s Absolut cocktails.
Hydration drinks continue to gain popularity as a hangover cure and health aid, from Electrolit bottled beverages to Unilever’s Liquid I.V. in powdered form. But the contours of how this category will factor into consumers’ purchasing habits is still not fully fleshed out, according to Dr. Russell Zwanka, professor of food marketing at Western Michigan University.
“There is a bit of customer confusion between rapid rehydration beverages with electrolytes and the traditional sports drinks, especially with these drinks in at least three locations in stores: sports drinks, near juices and over in health and beauty care,” Zwanka said. “We could see all of these beverages trying to expand their brands into a powdered form, for sustainability reasons and for ease of travel.”
The continuous growth of beverages that can help consumers get through their day like energy drinks is leading to a growing number of brands on shelves, from titans like Red Bull to more recent booming brands like Celsius. Throne Sport Coffee, launched last year, aims to combine several attribute trends with a product that contains caffeine, electrolytes, B vitamins and features 50 calories or less per can.
Going forward, new beverage products will have to find a balance between what attributes are most important to consumers — from flavors to better-for-you ingredients — according to Spiros Malandrakis, head alcohol researcher at Euromonitor.
“Functionality-forward offerings and a rediscovery of indulgence will underscore the direction of innovation against a backdrop that will remain challenging,” Malandrakis said. “An energizing boost or decadent little pleasures will both be essential.”
— Chris Casey
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Looking to the sea for ingredients
Plant-based aquatic ingredients are expected to be a major food trend in 2025, as consumers continue to seek more sustainable protein sources. Think sea moss, duckweed, kelp and seaweed.
The ingredients are gaining attention for their sustainability and nutritional value. Sea moss, in particular, has become a popular wellness ingredient due to its high levels of iron, magnesium, and iodine. The trendy Hailey Bieber smoothie infused with sea ingredients helped bring more attention to the products in 2023.
Sea moss is being incorporated into everything from beverages to gummies, and even bacon alternatives, such as MaryRuth’s Sea Moss Gummies and Umaro Foods bacon. Other brands are using aquatic ingredients to replicate the taste of seafood, further connecting plant-based aquatic ingredients to the burgeoning alternative seafood market.
For functional ingredients, agar-agar is becoming popular. The plant-based gelatin-like substance is derived from red algae. It can be used in many food applications including in preparing jellies, marshmallows, candies and candy fillers. The substance also is used in some beverages to enhance hydration. In confectionery products, it limits fat content.
Duckweed is becoming more common in food products. These little green “lentils” are high in protein and contain heart-healthy polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Other ingredient trends for 2025 will include products that are touted as adding beautification “from the inside.” This includes ingredients like collagen for hair and nails, according to de la Vega.
“Taking a page from marathon runners, jelly-like pouches are popping up as energy supplements, hangover cures,” de la Vega added. “I also think GORP and trail mixes are due for a makeover with the addition of different nuts, Asian fruits, roasty toasty spices like garam masala, roasted soy beans, and chocolate; almost emulating the kettle corn sweet and savory sensation but with a mix of textures.”
— Rose Palazzolo
