Sharp Bites: What caught our eye at lunch! 2026 👀

We spent the day at lunch! and The Natural & Organic Products Expo, eating, drinking and chatting our way around some of the newest food and drink brands – all in the name of research, obviously.

So, what stood out? Here are our three big takeaways from the day…

🌱 1. Clean labels, fibre maxxing and functional everything

Health and wellness are still driving a huge amount of innovation, but thankfully the days of “healthy” automatically meaning worthy and flavourless seem well behind us.

Clean label was everywhere. Brands are proudly calling out recognisable, natural ingredients on the front of pack, while shorter ingredient lists increasingly feel like a selling point.

Then there’s fibre maxxing. Fibre was hard to miss, popping up across snacks, breakfast products and functional blends, with brands making it incredibly easy for consumers to add more to their everyday diets.

Functional ingredients are also moving firmly into the mainstream across drinks and snacks. The overriding message? Consumers still want products that do something – whether that’s supporting gut health, upping fibre or delivering more protein – but not at the expense of flavour or enjoyment.

Which brings us nicely to…

😋 2. Eight brands we’d happily make room for in the cupboard

We tasted a lot. These are a few that had us going back for another bite…

Emilia’s Crafted Pasta – Fantastic quality bronze die-cut pasta from the team behind the cult London restaurant group. Proper pasta with serious foodie credentials.

Sucseed – A brilliant range of seed and botanical blends created by nutritionist Helen Johnston. The idea is wonderfully simple: add a heaped tablespoon to porridge, cereal, smoothies, salads or soups for an easy fibre boost. We particularly loved the Gut Health blend, which cleverly balances bitter dandelion with sweet lucuma fruit.

Delve Roasted Oat Crisps – New from Holleys Fine Foods and seriously tasty. These bad boys come in big sharing bags and individual snack packs and deliver plenty of fibre and protein alongside the crunch. We tried all the flavours. We liked all the flavours. Enough said.

Nourish Bars – These genuinely feel like a treat while being made with natural, nourishing ingredients – a very satisfying alternative when the chocolate bar is calling. Already stocked by Whole Foods Market and Ocado.

Flawsome! Sparkling Cold-Pressed Juice Drinks – The Apple & Rhubarb was a standout: refreshing, delicious and with a lovely tart rhubarb finish that stops it being overly sweet.

All Dressed Up Miso Sesame Dressing – Nutty, savoury and packed with umami. This one is going straight into the pantry. You can find it at Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.

Few’r Chocolate Cookies – Pretty much the clean-label snacking trend in biscuit form. Just nine ingredients, satisfyingly filling and wholesome, but still with a proper cocoa hit.

SOUL FRUIT Dragon Fruit – Always a winner. Brilliant crunch, great flavour and dangerously easy to keep eating.

🛒 3. Want a retail listing? Make the buyer’s life easier

One of our top sessions of the day was What Buyers Want? featuring perspectives from Ocado, Whole Foods Market, Sysco and Joybuy.

And there was plenty of advice that challenger brands should probably stick above their desks.

First up: know who you’re pitching to. Understand the retailer, the channel and, crucially, the customers they serve. Look at what the category already looks like and be able to explain clearly why your product deserves space in it.

Buyers aren’t simply looking for another version of something they already stock. What’s genuinely different about you? What value do you add?

Ocado’s Genevieve Fitch had another simple piece of advice: be proactive. Come to meetings prepared, bring ideas and ultimately make the buyer’s job easier.

Getting the listing is only the beginning, too. The first 90 days are crucial. Brands need to invest in visibility, monitor the data, understand rate of sale and – very importantly – make sure the supply chain can actually keep up. Being out of stock isn’t going to help anyone.

Whole Foods Market highlighted opportunities including pitch days for start-ups and in-store demos that allow emerging brands to get directly in front of customers. Ocado, meanwhile, sees its core customers actively adding challenger brands to their baskets and has initiatives such as Buy Women Built and Future of Food to help showcase them.

And finally, a small plea on behalf of buyers everywhere: please stop sending generic emails.

Some are receiving 50–70 pitches per week, so copy-and-paste outreach isn’t going to cut through. Misspelling the buyer’s name won’t help either.

Instead, understand the retailer’s range-review process, show what you’ve already achieved and give them a reason to pay attention. If you’re following up, don’t simply send another “just popping this to the top of your inbox” email – come back with something useful: new momentum, PR coverage, sales growth, distribution wins, customer data or another reason why the opportunity has become more compelling.

And before asking for that listing, understand the practicalities too. Many retailers have preferred distributors, so have a route-to-market and supply plan ready to go.

The big takeaway from lunch!? Great taste still matters enormously, but today’s challenger brands are being much smarter about what sits behind it – cleaner labels, functional benefits, distinctive propositions and a very clear reason for consumers (and buyers) to care.

Now, excuse us while we go and find that Miso Sesame dressing…