Gen Z Drexel University Food Lab Students Return as Specialty Food Association Summer Fancy Food Show Junior Trendspotters

The Specialty Food Association (SFA) hosted 10 students from the Drexel Food Lab/Certificate in Food Entrepreneurship and Innovation programs during the 2024 Summer Fancy Food Show, June 23-25 at the Javits Center in New York City. With Gen Z consumers spending around 40 percent of their grocery budgets on specialty items,¹ insights from college-aged food enthusiasts are a hot commodity as the industry looks to maintain its growth into the future.

Following three days of snacking, walking and talking with vendors from 56 countries across the world, the Junior Trendspotters determined five standout trends, listed below, through a Gen Z lens.

Led by Drexel Food Lab Associate Director Chef Rachel Sherman along with Drexel University Professor Jonathan Deutsch and Chef Brooke Olasewere, this year’s Junior Trendspotters team included:

• Felicia Yan
• Belinda Faakye
• Zae’Onah Howell
• Adam Gladstone
• Victoria Sanchez-Galarza
• Alessandra Mora
• Alex Ly
• Gabe Thayer
• Jocelyn Leal
• DeAndra Forde

“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.”

“The Fancy Food Show is something I always look forward to each year. Visiting the booths is always a great opportunity to connect with individuals in the field as well as to learn about new, upcoming products. I personally love working as a Junior Trendspotter because it allows me to look at the exhibits through a more critical lens and analyze what is a new trend versus what is something that continues to be popular from previous years,” said Victoria Sanchez-Galarza, Senior, Culinary Arts and Sciences.

“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 Salama, SVP 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.”

The Summer Fancy Food Show Junior Trendspotters identified the following top trends:

• Beverage boom: Innovation in beverages continues—this year, many were sparkling, cocktail-inspired or had functional attributes. Brands like Kombucharista combine multiple elements with non-alcoholic, cocktail flavored, gut-healthy, prepared drinks. Bluestem Botanicals, who use herbs in organic mocktail kits and Seraphim Beverages, who have pioneered a non-alcoholic wine, display the market is ripe with non-alcoholic offerings. Ceybon comes in with mushroom-infused aperitif and elixir concentrates, which create the perfect backdrop for non-alcoholic, wellness cocktails. Unity rounds out this category with natural energy drinks with adaptogens for extra health benefits. The growing trend is clean labels and additional health benefits without compromising on taste. Finally, the dry beverage market has also expanded. Pinky Up offers boba in a tea bag while Everydaze Reset Kombucha has powdered kombucha in a variety of flavors.
• Crunchy snacks: If you ever wanted to make a loud announcement when walking into a room, you now have endless edible means to do so. In the snack category, there was great innovation and experimentation that highlighted new methods of producing snacks, ingredients and flavors. Mr. Mushroom features vacuum-fried vegetables such as mushrooms (shocker), tomatoes and lotus root. Similarly, freeze dried snacks are being brought to the market by brands like Uptop Treats and Pocas. Brands like Bret’s Chips has expanded the classic potato chip into gourmet flavors like camembert and summer truffle. Everyone is bound to find a new favorite snack!
• Global flavors: With the summer months here, everyone seems to be going somewhere. Can’t afford a plane ticket but don’t want to miss out on the fun? No worries! Travel the world in less than 80 days with sauces and spices from Watcharee (Thailand), Perfeito (Brazil), HOXY (Korea) and Brundo (Ethiopia). Kasé’s dashi soy sauce, Pink Salt’s Nam Prik Pao and Auria’s hot chili sambal can brighten up a meal. Prepared foods like Xinca‘s pupusas, Doro’s Cheesy Korean Rice Cakes and snacks like HBAF‘s impressive flavor library like tteok-bokki almonds or cheeseburger popcorn exhibit how global flavors have popularized across the industry.
• Flours beyond whole wheat: As gluten-free snack innovation continues, we see a wider variety of featured alternatives. Diggables strays from the traditional with buckwheat puffs. In the same vein, Sorghum Symphony’s puffed snacks include global flavors like churro and curry while Yuca Balls offers a crunchy cassava snack. Ieialel offers dehydrated fermented millet flour while Local village has ready to eat sorghum grain in brine along with their sorghum, teff and tiger nut flours. For Good granola features buckwheat in their oat free granola. Yolélé has expanded fonio to the American market with chips made from the African grain.
• Honey everything: Honey is having a moment. From hot honey to honey tea and sauces, you could not walk more than an aisle or two without tasting a honey product. Explorer has a honey chai concentrate, Savannah Bee Company launched a honey hot sauce. Fresh Fizz sweetens their sodas with honey. Casa Folino’s set out a wide array of flavored honey like bergamot, lemon and balsamic. Bumbleberry farms featured their peach vanilla cream spread. Zen Bear has a selection of honey teas. Honey B has a sparkling honey drink and the list goes on. But of course, purists could always choose one of the many honeys brought by vendors from all over the world.

A full Trendspotter Panel report from the Summer Fancy Food Show can be found online.

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. Open only to food industry professionals, journalists and influencers, the Fancy Food Shows require registration and qualification. For additional information, click here.