Here’s What I Saw at the NACS Show

By Jeff Lenard

Hot off the press and on the heels of our industry’s biggest event, you’ll soon be able to revisit 2026 NACS Show highlights in our November issue of NACS Magazine.

For several years the team has asked me to share some of the big trends I see each year at our industry’s biggest event. Given that this was my 25^th NACS Show, I think I qualify as someone who’s seen a lot of product trends come and go, some that never got off the ground, and others that seemed ahead of their time.

Last year I wrote that pickles—or more accurately, the pickle flavor—was once again everywhere on the Expo. This year there were still plenty of pickle-flavored products, although the dominant theme was unmistakable: protein, protein, protein.

One reason is the increased use of GLP-1 medications. People who take these medications often replace a meal with a snack or beverage, and they tend to gravitate toward products that are high in protein.

I saw protein-enhanced donuts, popcorn, sour candy, gummies, cookies, tortilla chips, pretzels, wafers, pudding, water, kefir, soda, coffee, and protein-rich syrups that can be added to beverages. The second big trend was a product that rhymes with protein: nicotine, which continues to be redefined. Sales of modern oral nicotine grew more than 22% last year, according to NIQ. The category has grown so quickly that NACS is now viewing cigarettes and other tobacco products collectively as “nicotine”.

Adding to the rhyming scheme one more word: routine. With n-store transactions down 4.5% for the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period last year , we can hypothesize that customers are not going inside the store after they fill up. New fueling technology is designed to change that and make the in-store purchase part of the fueling routine.

Modern dispensers increasingly feature interactive touchscreens and cloud-based software that allow customers to order food, snacks or car wash services while they fill up. Other systems use large screens to promote in-store offers and communicate far more than the price of fuel.

The dispensers have additional lighting, less promotional clutter and a much stronger connection between the forecourt and the store.

That’s just some of what I saw at the NACS Show Expo, which barely scratches the surface of a 442,600 square-foot space containing 1,090 exhibitors. If you were at the NACS Show, the November issue of NACS Magazine will be a good refresher. If you missed the NACS Show this year, you’ll see what you missed and why you’ll want to join us next year—October 5-8, 2027, in Atlanta.