4 Consumer Trends That Will Influence Food & Drink Industry in 2025
Along with pumpkin spice flavoring, another sure sign of the final quarter of the calendar year is the release of food trends for the coming 12 months. Mintel is out with its take on movements that will influence the global food and drink industry in 2025 and beyond.
Some familiar topics are on that list, with the latest nuances and updates shaping the longer-term outlook. According to the insights firm, here are four trends to keep tabs on as we reach the mid-point of what’s turned out to be a decade of disruption:
- Fundamentally nutritious: The emergence of weight-loss medications like Ozempic will redefine consumer perceptions of "food as medicine" from being an added functional ingredient, to necessary to meeting daily essential nutrient needs.
- Rule rebellion: Embrace consumers as "perfectly imperfect" beings who are hungry for brands that help them "break the rules" in food and drink.
- Chain reaction: As disruptions to the food supply become more frequent, the industry will need to encourage consumers to welcome and trust the new origins, ingredients and flavors that will emerge locally and globally.
- Hybrid harvests: Food and drink companies will need to illustrate how technology and agriculture work together to benefit consumers, farmers and the environment.
Jenny Zegler, director of food and drink at Mintel, said that brands and grocers can respond in different ways to evolving consumer preferences and behaviors. “Starting in 2025, brands must streamline their health claims to the critical nutrients they contain. Simplified claims that highlight protein, fiber, vitamins and mineral content will appeal to people who are using weight-loss drugs, as well as the majority of consumers who define their diets based on their individual needs and how food makes them feel," she said.
Mintel’s analysts noted that the trends reflect some dualities evident in today’s marketplace that has been impacted by a variety of macro conditions. For example, the writers pointed out how consumers seem to cross between health and indulgence, sometimes in contradictory ways. Continuing trends earlier in the 2020s, the “Chain Reaction’ and “Hybrid Harvest” moves exemplify industry innovations, including rapidly advancing technologies, and concurrent supply chain disruptions.
The full report, which includes 2025 projections, longer-term possibilities, supporting consumer data and product spotlights, is available online.
