It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Okay, not really. But what better time to start talking about holiday and seasonal trends than now? As our customers begin planning their winter lineups and LTOs, we see an uptick in requests for holiday-themed items around this time of year. Besides your typical “pumpkin spice” and “peppermint,” what flavors are consumers craving during the holidays? Let’s take a look at some holiday flavor trends.
Beverage Inspiration
Hot beverage LTOs have almost become synonymous with the holidays. It started with pumpkin spice, but now extends to a whole slew of warm, sweet and cinnamony drinks. Popular holiday beverage flavors like peppermint mocha, gingerbread latte, and spiced cider translate particularly well to snacks, desserts and dairy. Pay attention to what the national coffee chains are offering as LTOs, as these beverages receive a lot of buzz, making them craveable and the flavors more recognizable to consumers.
Treats & Sweets
When you think of the holidays, a lot of the foods that come to mind are sweets. What better way to get consumers in the mood for the holidays than to offer flavors inspired by their favorite holiday sweets? Flavors like iced sugar cookie, gingerbread, red velvet cake with cream cheese icing, caramel apple and spice cake will get consumers in the holiday – and snacking – spirit. The holidays are usually a time when consumers view indulging as permissible, so these types of flavors may help them ditch their diets until after the New Year.
Comfort Food
Given that consumers tend to give themselves a bit of a free pass on indulging around the holidays, it is no surprise that comfort food flavors see a major spike around this time of year. Drawing on inspiration from home cooking, these flavors will begin to rise in popularity as fall rolls around. Warm, herby flavors typically begin picking up steam in the market around early September and continue to rise in popularity until after the holidays are over.
Don’t be surprised to see savory flavors inspired by dishes like pot roast, butternut squash soup, chili with cornbread, and chicken pot pie. Not only will dishes like these be offered on restaurant menus as LTOs, but they’ll also make appearances in frozen meals, canned soup, and even snacks at the grocery store.
Moving Forward with Fuchs
Whether you’re looking for seasoning options to make your products more appealing to health nuts or indulgent snackers, here at Fuchs, we’ve got you covered.
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