March 27, 2025 – Snacking moves beyond its role as mere filler between meals and evolves as a vital part of daily food for many consumers across the globe. In daily routines and celebrations, snacks provide energy, indulgence, and diverse flavor options. As global trends influence the snacking industry, the demand for quality, indulgence, and health-focused options continues to grow. Here we look into the Innova’s top ten food trends of 2025 that redefining the global sweets and snacks market, offering a glimpse into its innovative opportunities that may develop in future.
This article is based on Innova’s Top Trends 2025: Sweets & Snacks – Global report. This report is available to purchase or with an Innova Reports subscription. Reach out to find out more
Trend 1: Ingredients and Beyond
Snacking trend research indicates quality as the most crucial factor for consumers in food and beverage brands. This prioritization of quality aligns with “Ingredients and Beyond” food trend, emphasizing that as the demand for added value becomes standard, product differentiate through ingredient quality. Consumers examine product quality with price, shelf life, brand, freshness, health benefits, naturalness, and nutritional content. For instance, BTR bar comes with zero added sugar, no additives, and plant-based ingredients, appealing to consumers seeking quality offerings that provide energy at an affordable price.
Trend 2: Precision Wellness
Consumers’ health consciousness drives brands to offer targeted nutrition products. Their top approaches include balanced, age-specific, gender-specific, lifestyle-based, condition-specific, and performance nutrition. Gender specific nutrition, including food and beverage and supplements, with women related claims displays 39% CAGR in the past year. This targeted wellness aligns with “Precision Wellness” trend, highlighting how information culture raises the bar by challenging brands to meet targeted nutritional needs, at any life stage.
Snacking trends reveal that weight management is the leading physical health concern globally. Consumers approach exercise and fitness, diet-reduction, and diet-balance nutrition to manage their weight. Brands are launching innovative products with weight management claims, showing a 16% CAGR growth in the snacking industry over the past two years. These snack launches include cookies with no sugar, claiming to support weight loss while offering benefits like regulating blood sugar and pressure.
Trend 3: Wildly Inventive
Globally, 43% of consumers seek crazy creations that provide them with an ultimate indulgent experience. This craze for inventive products aligns with “Wildly Inventive” food trend, highlighting consumers’ craving for extraordinary experience, driving companies to create surprising mash-ups and flavors that deliver the ‘wow’ effect. Snacking trends indicate that consumers desire perfect combinations through mash-ups including dessert mash-ups, snack and main course, and savory and sweet. Apart from these, limited editions also influence their taste experience, with 1 in 4 consumers globally agreeing with the aspect.
Trend 4: Flourish From Within
Consumers increasingly care about their digestive and gut health, making it a leading health aspect in purchasing functional food and beverages. Snacks with digestive or gut health claims display growth of 30% CAGR over the past year. This growing health concern reflects another food trend “Gut Health: Flourish From Within” which highlights growing awareness of the microbiome and creating space for next ingredients such as fiber.
Trend 5: Rethinking Plants
Plant-based products face perceived barriers, such as lack of naturalness or containing artificial ingredients. This drives consumers to seek more natural and healthy plant-based products. In the snacking industry, this demand reflects “Plant-Based: Rethinking Plants” trend, which displays consumers rerouting toward natural pursuits to plants in real and recognizable forms. Recognizing the demand, companies are adopting cleaner approaches to plant-based products. Grizzly Foods, for example, launches vegan jerky made with 100% natural ingredients, positioning it as a plant-based and sustainable snack.
Trend 6: Climate Adaption
Almost half of consumers globally are aware of the impact of climate change. This reflects in their purchasing decision or food and beverage consumption and leaning towards the brands supporting this cause. The growing awareness aligns with “Sustainability: Climate Adaption” trend, which highlights how brands and consumers are aligning personal values with product choices to address climate challenges. Climate change impacts product prices the most. In snacks, consumers are likely to stop purchasing chocolate due to rising prices but continue buying coffee.
Trend 7: Taste the Glow
Globally, 1 in 5 consumers purchase food and beverage to enhance their physical appearance, including facial skin, hair, and body skin. Products with beauty claims show 17% CAGR growth in the past year In the snacking industry, brands are tapping into this trend by launching snacks that support hair and nail growth. This aligns with “Taste the Glow” food trend, reflecting a growing interest in beauty-enhancing food and beverages, driven by the booming cosmetic industry. The younger generation drives skin health product purchases and snacks with skin health claims shows rise in interest.
Trend 8: Tradition Reinvented
Snacking trends show that nearly 1 in 2 consumers globally seek traditional values in their diet. This aligns with “Food Culture: Tradition Reinvented” which reveals a growing consumer desire to rediscover the flavor of their culinary heritage and embrace authenticity and tradition. Brands like Ruf and Beeyond leverage this trend by launching handmade cakes and honey and sesame bar snacks.
Trend 9: Mindful Choices
Consumers pay close attention to their mental health, with 36% stating emotional wellbeing as their primary health goal. This aligns with “Mood Food: Mindful Choices” trend, highlighting the growing demand for products supporting mental and emotional wellbeing. Consumers prefer snacking as a mindful choice to uplift mood and relieve stress. Beyond vitamins, botanical ingredients such as Flavanol-rich cocoa and green tea show potential as active ingredients for relieving stress.
Trend 10: AI: Bytes to Bites
23% of consumers across globe are curious about AI created food and beverages, with AI related claim launches showing 10% CAGR growth over the past two years. Brands like Betty Crocker leverage AI to sketch consumers’ dream cakes with their own prompts. This trend of AI aligns with “AI: Bytes to Bites” trend, which emphasizes how brands are beginning to unlock the full power of AI, moving from infinite capabilities to concrete applications that elevate consumer experiences.
What’s Next in Global Sweets Innovation?
Snacking trends are set to embrace a fusion of creativity and functionality. Brands can explore multi-sensory experiences, combining unexpected flavors like spicy and sweet or integrating nostalgic favorites with modern twists. These mash-ups can offer both novelty and a sense of familiarity, creating a unique appeal.
Functional ingredients, such as plant-based proteins, fiber, and adaptogens, continue to grow in the snacking industry. Incorporating these elements into snacks can provide health benefits while catering to the demand for gut health, energy boosts, and weight management. Snackable portions inspired by traditional desserts can tap into this trend, offering convenience with indulgence.
This article is based on Innova’s Top Trends 2025: Sweets & Snacks – Global report. This report is available to purchase or with an Innova Reports subscription. Reach out to find out more
