As they do, many of their demands will contradict – complicating innovation and marketing, but also creating new opportunities. For example, market researchers and brands predict consumers will seek “fundamentally nutritious” products but also indulgent treats. Shoppers also will look for vibrant foods that skip artificial dyes. And they will demand more “natural” options while simultaneously embracing modern technology that promises to ease pricing pressures, climate change and supply chain constraints.
If that sounds like a tall order of conflicting claims and priorities that is because it is. Welcome to 2025: A year which Mintel’s Food & Drink Director Jenny Zegler described by quoting the poet Walt Whitman as “containing multitudes.”
In this episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Soup-To-Nuts podcast, Zegler, along with wellness brand KOS’ VP of Marketing Katie Nahoum, share their predictions for the top trends to watch in the food & beverage space. Many of them appear contradictory on the surface, but as they explain they all address consumers’ deep uncertainty, desire for change and need for relief.
Listen to past podcast episodes and subscribe
Never miss an episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Soup-To-Nuts podcast , or our recently launched Founders' Fundamentals podcast -- subscribe today.
Catch up on past episodes of Soup-To-Nuts:
- Mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labeling is coming – how should brands prepare? -- FDA is under pressure to require standardized science-based, front-of-pack labeling to help consumers interpret nutrition information on food products – but what will the mandate mean for packaged food brands?
- What will it take for the US hummus market to break $1 billion annually? -- In this episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Soup-To-Nuts podcast, two emerging hummus brands share what it will take for the US hummus category to break $1 billion. Ithaca Hummus Founder Chris Kirby and Little Sesame Co-founder and CEO Nick Wiseman reveal what US consumers want from hummus, including clean ingredients, bold flavors and modern processing techniques. They also discuss how they are boosting consumption and usage occasions and the role strategic partnerships can play in the long-term success of their brands and the larger hummus category overall.
- Where are consumers most interested in sugar reduction? -- To help companies determine where sugar reduction reformulation efforts will have the most impact and how to balance changes with other consumer expectations and demands, ADM recently unveiled an interactive Sweet Insights Tool. In this episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Soup-To-Nuts podcast, ADM Senior Marketing Director of Global Sweetening & Texturizing Solutions Sarah Diedrich shares how to use the insights tool as well as key findings from the company’s Outside Voice research. She also offers concrete next steps, including how ADM can support reformulation efforts.
Listen to the most recent episode of Founders' Fundamentals:
- Startup CPG, Emil Capital Partners, SPINS share tips for success in 2025 -- To break out in 2025, CPG founders must conserve capital, strategically plan promotions and offer value and premiumization, according to experts during an episode of the Founders' Fundamentals podcast.
The current landscape and consumer mindset
According to Zegler, who helped author Mintel’s 2025 Global Food and Drinks Trends, consumers’ conflicting demands and unwillingness to compromise is a symptom of their exhaustion, need for comfort and interest in change – all of which, she says, create opportunities for brands and retailers to innovate within reason.
“One of the things that really inspired us when we were working on our trends for 2024 was this idea that consumers contain multitudes. We do all sorts of contradictory behaviors and so many trends exist at the same time, although they may not make sense together,” Zegler told FoodNavigator-USA.
For example, consumers say they want healthier food, but they also want indulgence. Likewise, they say they want to preserve traditional farming techniques, but they want secure supply chains and lower prices, which require new technologies and production approaches.
Nahoum from KOS, agreed, noting that consumers who feel overwhelmed and are looking to control what they can – including their diet – are more closely reading labels, examining production methods and scrutinizing companies’ ethos.
“The US consumer today is overwhelmed. They are being stretched in every direction possible and there is a lot of fear about making the right decision for themselves and for their family,” she said. As such, she added, “consumers are looing for transparency from suppliers. They want to understand how a product is made, not necessarily just what it is, and then they want to go a little bit further down in that journey to what is it going to do for them.”
Nahoum said KOS is empowering consumers on that journey by offering products that meet sometimes conflicting demands for increased nutrient density and indulgent taste and clean label products that are still vibrantly colored and fun.
Consumers want ‘fundamentally nutritious’ food without restrictions
According to Zegler, this rising interest in self-care is at the foundation of two of Mintel’s top food and beverage trend predictions for 2025, which – surprise! – appear at first blush to contradict each other. The trends are “fundamentally nutritious” and “rule rebellion,” which Zegler explains leans heavily into indulgence.
Mintel’s ‘fundamentally nutritious’ prediction for 2025 was inspired by the emergence of weight loss drugs and the needs of consumers who are taking them as well as those who are not, but who want the same benefits, said Zegler.
She explained that as consumers on anti-obesity drugs consumer smaller meals and fewer snacks they need to ensure that what they eat and drink delivers the protein, fiber and nutrients they need in more concentrated formats.
She added the national conversation around weight loss drugs has also crystalized for consumers what a healthy diet looks like – and shown them that it is not just adaptogens, medicinal mushrooms and functional ingredients that may not be accessible or desirable to mainstream consumers. It can also be fiber, protein and basic vitamins.
“The recommendation with fundamentally nutritious is to boil down functional claims to those nutritional basics. So, focus on how much protein is in a product, how much fiber consumers might be getting. Are there additional vitamins and minerals they are getting versus going down the route of really emerging or niche functional claims,” she said.
Zegler notes a Nestle’s Vital Pursuit line is a frontrunner in the CPG space that is meeting the needs of consumers on weight loss drugs but also any shopper seeking “fundamentally nutritious” foods.
Editor’s Note: Jenn Barnes, the vice president of marketing for Nestle Frozen Meals, will share more about the Vital Pursuit line in a panel discussion on developing Ozempic-era foods and beverages that FoodNavigator-USA will moderate Jan. 29. The discussion is part of larger digital event focused on the return of weight-loss culture in the US, which will also include insights about diet trends from the consumer research platform Spate, and the different need states of anti-obesity drug users identified by ingredient supplier ADM. The online event is free to attend and you can learn more and register at www.positivenutritionsummit.com.
Consumers want vibrant hues, but not artificial dyes
Mintel’s “fundamentally nutritious” trend is an umbrella for many other “better-for-you” sub-trends that will continue to gain momentum in 2025 – including cleaner labels and growing distrust of ultra-processed foods.
Nahoum explains that many consumers seeking healthier products also are looking for products free from artificial food dyes. But, she adds, in keeping with consumers “containing multitudes,” they do not want to sacrifice fun – or vibrant colors. And, she explains, they do not have to.
“There is a growing resistance here in the US. It is challenging the FDA and big food on their policies to include artificial food dyes in everything from candy to cereal. It is even in salad dressings. The leaders of the movement are organizing this resistance economy,” and push to boycott certain products with artificial dyes, Nahoum said.
“The brands that are offering alternatives are gaining ground,” including KOS, which offers several products including blue spirulina, she said.
Protein expands beyond a star ingredient for weight loss, muscle gain
Another sub-trend that fits under Mintel’s “fundamentally nutritious” trend is the ongoing demand for protein and consumers’ evolving understanding of its benefits. According to Nahoum, consumers now understand that protein is not just for building muscle but for “life more broadly.”
While protein is important to consumers, it is not the only macronutrient on their wish-list.
Biggest trends of 2024 and what to expect in 2025
This story is part of FoodNavigator-USA's recent collection of articles and podcasts exploring food and beverage trends in 2024 and what is on the horizon in 2025. Check out the full collection in this letter from the editor .
Nahoum notes consumers increasingly want multiple benefits, but they do not want to buy multiple products to get them. Which is where, she said, functional beverages fit. But, she adds, it is up to brands to clearly communicate those benefits to consumers in a way they can easily understand.
“We all know that hydration is very important. In fact, the human body is 60% water. We need to make sure we are replenishing our liquids. But functional beverages mean that it is going to offer you another opportunity for wellness – whether that is energy and focus or cognition,” Nahoum said, noting KOS offers multiple functional beverages with different benefits.
The rise of ‘treat culture’ is a counterweight to ‘fundamentally nutritious’
On the other end of the spectrum from “fundamentally nutritious” is an emerging trend that Mintel has dubbed “rule rebellion.” This encapsulates the “treat culture” that took off during the pandemic as a form of self-care, but also so much more, according to Zegler.
“We have got health on one side, and then we have also got this need and desire for indulgence. Rule rebellion extends a trend that we have been watching since the recovery from the pandemic, and it is a need for joy” and to forget about the rules, she explained.
This opens new usage occasions, opportunities for collaborations and a chance to work more closely with consumers, she added.
Supply chain challenges, solutions surface as consumer concern
As part of the ‘rule rebellion’ trend, consumers are embracing being ‘perfectly imperfect’ – a grace that Zegler suggests consumers may also extend to brands, manufacturers and suppliers that they perceive as trying to address some of the larger challenges facing the stakeholders earlier in the value chain which might impact quality, price and supply stability.
But to earn consumer acceptance, Zegler said, brands and ingredient suppliers must do a better job of explaining how they are future proofing the supply chain and the benefits of those actions for consumers. To this end, Mintel predicts consumer concerns about supply chain disruptions and their preferences for traditional or high-tech innovation will fall into two closely related trends, which it calls “chain reaction” and “hybrid harvests.”
“With chain reaction and hybrid harvest, we are looking at the supplier end of things, or zooming out to how companies are responding to the challenges that are in the supply chain, the challenges that we are seeing from political tensions, from climate change and really creating that future-proof supply chain for consumers,” she said.
“Both of them have to do with ways that we are educating consumers, especially as we do see some consumers a little apprehensive to some change,” she added.
Zegler points to Driscoll’s communication strategy for its Sweetest Batch Berries as an example of transparently but also accessibly breaking down complicated technology for consumers. She explains Driscoll’s talks about its plant scientists and plant pathologists as “joy makers” who use technology to create the line of better tasting berries. The company also emphasizes its traditional berries are still available.
Ultimately, while many of the challenges in 2024 will continue into 2025, both Zegler and Nahoum say they are optimistic about the future given consumers’ desires for change and willingness to try new approaches and product that they perceive as offering benefits.
