Throughout 2025, NACS Daily kept a close eye on emerging flavor trends. Here’s a look back at what resonated with consumers, and how different flavors and ingredients were used and combined this year.
Cinnamon Craze
A trip through the Cool New Products Preview Room at the 2025 NACS Show revealed one repeating flavor over and over again: cinnamon. From numerous churro-flavored products—including chips, sunflower seeds, classic desserts and more—to Twix Snickerdoodle, Butterfinger French Toast and cinnamon sugar smoked barbecue snacks, the flavor was everywhere.
Functional Beverages
Manufacturers leaned into the better-for-you trend with functional ingredients—protein drinks evolved, with a rise in clear protein (a type of protein that is specially filtered to create a clear, juice-like drink). Fiber was also at the forefront, with manufacturers like Coca-Cola launching its own prebiotic soda, Simply Pop, with six grams of prebiotic fiber in five flavors to encourage gut health. Nestlé unveiled a new protein shake in June with four grams of prebiotic fiber designed specifically to support the digestive health of adults on GLP-1 medications.
NACS Magazine further delved into trending functional beverages in the August 2025 feature “Sipping Smarter: Functional Beverages Are in the Spotlight.”
Foodservices Showcases Flavor Trends
One menu ingredient was popular with retailers this year: Spam. California-based Loop Neighborhood Markets debuted ready-to-eat spam musubi, as did Washington state’s Nisqually Markets, and Rutter’s brought back its Spam menu for the fourth year. International flavors and dishes also garnered attention in c-stores. 7-Eleven launched one of its most popular international food items in the U.S.—the viral ‘tamago sando,’ which features egg salad made with Kewpie Mayonnaise. Nisqually Markets launched “Ramen Go!” a self-service instant ramen station.
A Strawberry-Filled Summer
Strawberry stole the show across many drink categories over the summer. RaceTrac and Jamba teamed up to release an exclusive flavor: the Jamba-inspired strawberry wave Swirl World flavor. f’real permanently added a strawberry shortcake flavor to its line up, and QSRs debuted strawberry flavored beverages, including Dutch Bros’ Strawberry Colada and Dunkin’s collab with pop singer Sabrina Carpenter: Sabrina’s Strawberry Daydream Refresher. To kick off 2025 last year, QuickChek launched a strawberry-flavored coffee.
Mash Ups
Slim Jim and Buffalo Wild Wings combined to create a new chicken stick. Hershey’s and Mondelēz combined two of their products—Reese’s and Oreos—into new items, the Oreo Reese’s Cookie and the Reese’s Oreo Cup. Trolli and Mountain Dew teamed up to launch two limited-edition products: Trolli x Mountain Dew Sour Brite Crawlers gummi candy and Mountain Dew Zero Sugar x Trolli Cherry Lemon, bringing both gummy candy and a new beverage to the market. 7-Eleven partnered with Cheetos for a menu featuring a Flamin’ Hot burrito, taco and nachos.
Pickles Are Still Everywhere
Pickles were once again around every corner at the 2025 NACS Show on the Expo floor, sometimes with a twist. For one, they were joined by olives in some booths, highlighting a “briny snacks” category. But the pickle is also alive and well as a standalone flavor, including in beer—Pabst Blue Ribbon showcased its new pickle-flavored beer this year. Wawa also released a dill pickle ranch sauce that was featured on many of its menu items.
A Fruity 2026
Looking to 2026, T. Hasegawa’s 2026 Food and Beverage Flavor Trends Report named dark sweet cherry as the 2026 Flavor of the Year, while McCormick’s 2026 Flavor Forecast named black currant as its flavor of the year for 2026.
Read more about upcoming flavor trends in the December 2025 NACS Magazine story “The Next Big Flavor Trends in C-Stores.”