SFA's 2025 Trendspotter Panel Trends

It’s the start of the 2025 Food Trends season, a season that begins months earlier with feverish research, expert surveys, and note-checking as organizations gather input and refine the trends they want to stake for next year.

As part of the Specialty Food Association’s Trendspotter Panel, I had my turn to cast a few predictions based on my analysis of the Summer Fancy Food Show and a year’s worth of trend input. The SFA announced its robust trends list in early November and touts Girl Dinner 2.0, Instant Global Gratification and Gimme (Some) Sugar as some of the leaders for 2025.

My biggest take-away from the show was that convenient global meal products were branching out into new cuisines and truly delivering a restaurant-level eating experience. One of my favorite bites at the summer show was of an Indian dosa pancake made from a kit from a Vermont-based Indian food truck. Tasted just like those that I enjoy in South Indian restaurants in the Bay Area and the mix couldn’t be easier to make. Packaged Thai meals and frozen dumplings rounded out the global line-up now easily available, if at a bit of a premium price.

While the Show called out new sources of sweeteners – maple sugar, honey, really show staples – I expect to see more products add filling fiber to mimic how Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs work in the body, filling one up so one slows down eating and loses weight. Mintel’s Global Food and Drink Trends hit that topic with its Fundamentally Nutritious trend.

I’ll enjoy perusing the trend lists as they come out and watching next year to see what makes a mark.