Each month the Sharp team saves you time by rounding up some of the latest trends and insights from the world of food and drink. It’s designed to help brand founders like you use trends, fine-tune your messaging and increase your brand awareness.
It’s that time of year again when we’re steaming into Christmas festivities! But if you’re a food & drink founder, marketing or brand manager, you’ve also got one eye on the year ahead and are already planning delicious activations and campaigns for 2026.
If you’re wondering how to keep your brand relevant and capitalise on consumer behaviour shifts, we’ve had our ear to the ground, sniffing out the latest trends in food and drink and marketing. We’ve whipped up a snackable feast of the top trend predictions from experts at The Food People, Holland & Barrett and Kantar.
The Food People’s Top Ten Predictions for 2026 – Snackable Edition
Let’s start with a look at the Top Ten Trends in the food and drink world. We attended a brilliant webinar by Charles Banks as part of The Food People’s Annual Food & Beverage Summit 2026/2027. Here’s a snackable summary of the top 10 new and rising trends in case you missed it:
1. The GLP-1 Effect – Appetites are shrinking and eating moments are multiplying. Think: smaller portions, protein + fibre for satiety, mini meals, and clear nutrition-first messaging.
2. Food Therapy – Consumers want food that soothes, boosts, or sparks joy — from calming, functional drinks to nostalgic comfort eats.
3. Snack-tails – Snacking becomes the main event: gourmet crisps, dips, pastries, snackable “4th meals,” and drink–snack mashups. Highly shareable, highly scalable. This one is in our top three!
4. Butcher’s Cut – Value cuts take the spotlight – neck, collar, belly, wings, mince. Nose-to-tail eating meets cost-conscious cooking.
5. All-Day Dessert – Pastries and puddings stay strong. We could have predicted this one! Expect retro hits: banana pudding, cinnamon, pavlova, boozy sweets.
6. Bread & Batter – Carb lovers rejoice: French toast, sweet focaccia, signature bread courses, crepes, waffles, pancakes with playful twists. No brainer!
7. Convenient Store – Next-gen convenience: AI-powered stores, seamless vending, and frictionless micro-shopping for time-poor consumers.
8. Keep It Fresh – Anti-waste tech rises such as smart sensors, edible coatings, and packaging that extends shelf life and cuts spoilage.
9. Edit & Enhance – Gene editing moves into mainstream conversation, supporting better nutrition and longer shelf life.
10. Cuisines Rediscovered – Consumers deepen their love for favourites like Italian, Mexican, American and Japanese – seeking lesser-known ingredients and bolder exploration.
The Future of Wellness – Key Takeaways from Holland & Barrett’s Rachel Chatterton
Rachel is at the forefront of influencing health and wellbeing with consumers, and this session was possibly one of the most anticipated sessions of the day at The Food People’s Summit.
Know Your Body
People are getting smarter about their health and what their bodies need.
Preventative Health Wins
Early intervention, not cure, is the long-term play.
Natural Alternatives to GLP-1
Fibre-rich diets, citrus extracts, caffeine optimisation and flavonoid blends rise as appetite-supporting solutions.
Function + Joy
Healthy snacking is booming: short ingredient lists, natural sugars (dates), and indulgent twists for everyday habits.
Protein vs Fibre
Protein stays important—but fibre is where the real deficiency lies. Expect more liquid protein formats too.
Sugar Alternatives
Two audiences: sugar-reducers vs sweetener-avoiders. Monk fruit stands out as a natural zero-calorie sweetener. Haskap berry emerges for antioxidant power.
Cognitive Health
Brain health innovation accelerates, driven by rising concerns. Hero ingredients: polyphenols, grape extract, blueberry extract.
Sleep & Energy
Energy is easier to innovate around (think hydration); sleep remains tightly regulated. Magnesium leads supplement sales. Tart cherry juice still trending—hello, “snoozy mocktail”.
Gut Health
The gut = the body’s engine room. Expect more education and innovation across prebiotics, probiotics, fermentation and fibre.
Edible Beauty
Beauty from within continues to grow – skin, hair and nail health as markers of internal wellbeing. Scalp care is the next frontier.
The Next Decade
AI, climate change and GLP-1 will shape how we live, eat and age.
Kantar’s Marketing Trends for 2026 – The Bitesize version
The clever team at Kantar have released their marketing trend predictions for 2026 – and it’s no surprises that AI features A LOT. But it’s still very much about being human – phew!
1. AI Agents at Scale
Voice assistants, chatbots and AI shopping helpers surge – brands must build AI visibility now.
2. Generative Engine Optimisation
Make content machine-ready (structured, clear, recipe/how-to friendly) or risk disappearing.
3. Synthetic Data
Brands using synthetic, privacy-safe data gain accuracy and speed in insights.
4. AI-Powered Creative Intelligence
Use AI to predict which ads capture attention and drive emotion – not just to generate assets.
5. Treatonomics
“Little treat culture” grows as people search for small, daily joys. Brands must create micro-moments of delight.
6. Experiment to Accelerate
Growth comes from constant testing and brand-led innovation rooted in real consumer motivations.
7. Authentic Inclusion
Meaningful representation drives expansion. 65% value brands showing real diversity.
8. Retail Media Explosion
Retail media networks outperform traditional digital. Expect shoppable ads and streamer integrations.
9. Creators at the Strategy Table
Budgets rise for creators – brands shift to long-term platforms, not one-off posts.
10. Micro-Communities Matter
With declining organic reach, niche knowledge-sharing communities deliver 25% higher marketing ROI.
For the full report you can download here: Kantar. Shape your brand future.
———————–
We hope you enjoyed our SHARP Bites digest. Please do share with colleagues and industry contacts.
At SHARP, we build brands. If you’d like to chat with one of our team to find out how we can help you to grow your brand, book a call here.
