The results are in! During the Summer Fancy Food Show (SFFS) this past June, the Specialty Food Association (SFA) hosted 10 students from the Drexel Food Lab/Certificate in Food Entrepreneurship and Innovation programs, which were tasked with identifying key trends on the show floor through the increasingly important Gen Z lens.
“It’s really fascinating and informative to see the overlaps and divergences between top trends identified by SFA’s Junior Trendspotters and those noted by Millennial and Gen X Trendspotters,” said Leana Salamah, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at SFA. “Where inescapable trends like global flavors or honey appear in both lists, the Junior Trendspotter’s callout of non-traditional flours speaks to something essential about the Gen Z experience of and interest in specialty foods. Thank you to the Junior Trendspotters team and advisors for providing these invaluable insights and product highlights to the SFA audience.”
This year’s Junior Trendspotters team included the following, led by Drexel Food Lab Associate Director Chef Rachel Sherman:
“We were so honored to be invited to the Fancy Food Show this year. It is a great way for our students to see how broad the food industry is and understand the impact of the work we do at the lab,” said Sherman. “I find it encouraging to see what products and trends jump out to them. Each student found at least one highlight that I missed. With such a big show it can be easy to overlook something, and students have a great eye for finding standouts amongst the excitement. We ran into multiple alums who were showcasing this year, inspiring the next generation of food professionals.”
As revealed in a press release, the team of Summer Fancy Food Show Junior Trendspotters identified the following top trends:
To dig further into each rising trend, a full Trendspotter Panel report from the Summer Fancy Food Show can be found here. And to read more about the Gen Z Trendspotter Panel, click here.
The next Fancy Food Shows are the 2025 Winter Fancy Food Show, January 19-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and the 2025 Summer Fancy Food Show, June 29-July 1 at the Javits Center in New York City, so mark your calendars!
DMN will continue to report on the latest category trends, so stick around.
