Look at that! What’s that? Have you seen that before? Love the packaging! These are the tidbits that you hear walking down the aisles of the Summer Fancy Food Show. Keeley, Amy and I were lucky enough to spend a few days walking the show, looking for new products, talking to makers and scouting out trends.
The trends of the Winter Fancy Food Show were seen throughout the summer show. These included:
- Sriracha-flavored products (jams, hummus, popcorn)
- Unexpected crunchy snacks (quinoa chips, pasta chips, seaweed popcorn)
- Low-sugar sips (Unsweetened almond milk, Low sugar ginger ale)
- Mint infusions (cucumber mint soda, hibiscus mint frozen pops)
- Fancier condiments (truffle ketchup, ivory sauce, herbed mayo)
What’s Trending at the Summer Fancy Food Show
In addition to a continuation of winter trends, the Summer Fancy Food Show was full of new ideas as well. The Savory Pantry buyers noticed these trends popping up around the show:
- Drinking Vinegars and Balsamics - Fruity, well balanced and very refreshing! Drinking Vinegars and Balsamics have been around for centuries but they are starting to see a resurgence. Splash either in water or soda water, or mix with spirits for alcoholic cocktails. (Bevivo: Drinking Balsamic, Pok Pok Som)
- Spirited Products - Bourbon has been infused in all sorts of food products, from maple syrup to Bourbon Brittle from Olive and Sinclair, but at the show we started seeing other libations showing up in chocolate, pickles, and caramel sauce. (Brooklyn Brine Whiskey Sour Pickles, Get Your Hot Cakes Rye Whiskey Caramel)
- Weck Jars - Packaging is very important to us at The Savory Pantry, we pick things to fill our shelves that taste great, but we also keep a close eye on packaging. During the show we started to see more and more Weck jars being used and I am a fan. I think in the next year we will see Mason Jars in a decline and the Weck Jars taking over. (Stuart and Co. BBQ Sauces & Rubs, Bespoke Cooks Candle)
- Ghost Peppers - Spicy is still in! The beginning of the year was about Sriracha, but this Fancy Food Show, I kept hearing Ghost Peppers. Ghost Peppers are deemed the hottest chili out there, but that doesn’t scare off artisanal producers from working with them. (Theo Chocolate, Bissingers Apple Ghost Caramels)
