Why We Love Expo West
Natural Products Expo West sets the stage for food and beverage trends for the entire year. Today we will be sharing with you some of the top trends we saw at the expo, our tasting notes, and some stand-out products. This blog will be wrapping up the end of our Expo West series after touching on dietary supplements, food, and now (last, but certainly not least) beverage.
Expo West Top Beverage Trends
To track trends, NEXT uses both innovation activity, tracking, and analyzing the featured exhibitors based on trends and seeing where they are placing their bets, as well as what are consumers most interested in purchasing. Here are the top trends we found interesting:
- Many brands are strongly standing behind the organic movement, as consumers continue to find this a top priority
- Sugar and sugar reduction are being used as positioning, as consumers continue to look for more health-forward choices
- We are seeing more unique and novel ingredients, as consumers look for more global flavors
- Beverages are more than just a drink, with more functional ingredients filling the shelf they are reaching consumers in many new occasions
Beverage Product Spotlights
We were very excited to see what new beverage products were being highlighted this year. Since we couldn’t be there in person we still wanted the experience of trying these delicious libations. Based on the trends we saw, we picked some products that stood out to us that were featured. Even though we couldn’t visit booths in real-time, we got together at the Givaudan office to share our thoughts and reactions on the products. Here’s a video of how that went:
We got to try some amazing drinks for the video, but of course there were some others we would have loved to experience! Here are other standouts we saw at Expo West:
Soda Press Mixology Kit
As we know from tailored expectations, one of our macrotrends from our global trends program, consumers love experiences that are unique and crafted specifically for them. We also see an increase of interest during COVID of consumers becoming their own mixologists. Soda press plays into these trends with their mixology kit. The kit includes 2 organic syrups or kombucha of your choice, a mixology booklet, and a soda press stainless steel jigger.
Lemon Rose Uplift
This Sunwink Tonic beverage is crafted with lemon balm, rose, and hibiscus. All these ingredients are known for their wellness benefits and are heavy hitters in the beverage world. This tonic was “inspired by the CEO and co-founder Eliza who uses lemon balm to ease her nerves”.
Till The Next One!
Thank you so much for joining Givaudan in our analysis of the trends happening in Expo West 2021. Make sure to check out our overall summary, dietary supplement recap, and our food recap. We look forward to reporting on a (hopefully in person) 2022 Expo West. Be sure to keep up with our blog to get more on our takes on other trends happening in various spaces.
Author
0 Comments