Food and drink trends that will disrupt the status quo in 2025

Growing popularity of weight-loss drugs, changing consumer preferences, food supply disruptions and hybrid harvests are some of the trends that will shape the global food and drink industry in the years ahead.

This is according to research firm Mintel’s 2025 Global Food and Drink Trends. The trends are also developed around buzz-worthy topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) and GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, such as Ozempic and Zepbound.

The predictions are built on the base of Mintel’s seven trend drivers: wellbeing, experiences, surroundings, rights, technology, identity and value. Below are the trends:

Nutrition and clear communication

Weight-loss medications will inspire consumers to re-evaluate the relationship between food and medicine, according to the report.

Going forward, the focus will be on food and drinks that help consumers, especially weight-loss drug users who have reduced appetites, get the best nutrition from what they eat with easy-to-understand claims about protein, fibre and vitamin content, the report said.

Starting in 2025, brands must streamline their health claims to the critical nutrients they contain, the report suggests.

“Simplified claims that highlight protein, fibre, vitamins and mineral content will appeal to people who are using weight-loss drugs as well as the majority of consumers who define their diets based on their individual needs and how food makes them feel.

Brands that remind shoppers of inherent health benefits will also offer clarity to busy, cost-conscious shoppers who might already question the value of functional formulations with claims that are not as obviously felt as functional energy, digestive or high satiety claims.

Innovation to break rules

The report encourages brands to embrace the fact that consumers are perfectly imperfect beings and suggests they lean into how consumers want to or do consume food, or actually consume food and drink rather than how they feel they ‘should’.

With increasing acceptance of imperfections in society, brands can support consumers’ rebellious tendencies and help them feel more represented by the outside-the-norm food and drink choices available to them.

Brands will seek to break down continued social stigmas surrounding lesser-talked-about health issues. For example, less-seen on-pack and marketing messaging that directly mentions the role of food and drink in mental health management will become more commonplace, according to the report.

“Overall, brands exploring less conventional inspirations to reach the routine or the newly discovered desires of ‘imperfect’ consumers will need to make their core or creative ‘rule-breaking’ benefit(s) clear on-pack.”

Challenges, collaboration and communication

More frequent climate-related production challenges and geopolitical events are increasing consumers’ food bills and awareness of how distant world events can affect their meal plans, according to the report. This will test the trust which people have in food and drink companies, particularly if it results in food supply chain disruptions or adjustments in how products are sourced and marketed.

It’s important for brands to communicate how adjustments are made in global and local sourcing to benefit consumers in a volatile world.

“Cross-industry, multinational collaboration and scalable tech solutions will be required, but they are not without complications. More importantly, consumers will feel the consequences of these challenges personally, and brands must be ready with solutions.

“Looking ahead, more ingredients will be sourced from alternative and potentially more reliable growing regions, such as olive oil from Algeria or Peru. Brands can highlight the benefits of diversified sourcing, such as nuanced flavour variations. Many consumers’ local-centric identities will be transformed by social media, immigration and travel,” the report said.

Hybrid harvests

A greater use of technology in food and drink production is inevitable to meet current food supply challenges, yet many consumers are not ready to embrace it. Despite this resistance, brands can tap into technological advances that, for example, enhance convenience.

Brands must tell consumers how nature and technology complement — or better yet, enhance — each other.

“Over the next few years, food and drink brands must prioritise how these technological advancements benefit the consumer first through better taste, greater nutrition or consistent supply — and the environment second. It will be imperative that new technology is humanised, particularly AI.”

“For example, German juice brand Eckes-Granini’s marketing video announcing its partnership with Microsoft draws attention to how this technology makes a positive difference in their producers’ lives, not just making production more efficient.”

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