February 13, 2025 – Social media provides a spotlight into Valentine’s Day food trends and consumer preferences for food and beverages. Consumer trends insights pertaining to Valentine’s Day involve monitoring social media, following product releases of Valentine’s Day foods and Valentine’s Day drinks, tracking company launches, and reading press releases. Companies and consumers use social media platforms such as X, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok, and hashtags of #valentinesday, #valentineday, and #vday to generate and amplify buzz about favorites such as Valentine’s Day chocolates, Valentine’s Day candy, and Valentine’s Day snacks. The various measures of social media impact included total engagement with paid, earned, and owned content, mentions and trends in online conversations, reach to unique users, consumer sentiment about a product or theme, and total number of views.
Social Media Promotes Valentine’s Day
Social media analysis demonstrated consumer excitement about Valentine’s Day, especially limited-edition Valentine’s Day food and Valentine’s Day drinks. Limited-edition releases of Valentine’s Day snacks generate a sense of exclusivity around Valentine’s flavors and products and also create a buzz on social media. Social media offers ideal platforms for Valentine’s sweets and Valentine’s snacks, especially launches with red or pink colors and heart-themes in packaging.
Health Loves Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is known for indulgences but healthy options also are emerging and trending. Some of these include Valentine’s snacks that are plant-based or have less sugar, vegan Valentine’s Day chocolates, and keto-friendly Valentine’s Day desserts. Consumers are working toward a balance of wellbeing with indulgence.
Extending the Valentine’s Day Season
Valentine’s Day mentions on social media start long before February, although social media conversations heat up most in February. February is the time for consumers to talk about indulgent Valentine’s Day snacks, Valentine’s Day dinner menus, and limited-edition Valentine’s Day chocolates and candies. Brands often introduce Valentine’s Day food and drinks as early as December as a way to build Valentine’s Day momentum.
Young Females Embrace Valentine’s Day
On social media, young Millennial females drive conversations about Valentine’s Day. On X alone, women increase their number of posts about Valentine’s Day chocolate, Valentine’s Day cookies, and other Valentine’s snacks. They talk about plans to give gifts like Valentine’s chocolate, Valentine’s chocolate-covered strawberries, and wine tours.
Posts about Valentine’s Bakery and Desserts Capture Hearts
Social media users notice, and love company posts about Valentine’s Day cakes and desserts. Products with social media buzz include flourless chocolate cake and Valentine’s Day heart-shaped sandwiches, pasta, sushi, and pizza. Even health-conscious consumers can join social media conversations about Valentine’s Day with opportunities to talk about Valentine’s desserts that are sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free, keto, low-carb, or made with ingredients for heart health.
Valentine’s Day food trends show that Valentine’s sweets dominate social media posts about the holiday, reaching more than 50 million users. Following sweet confectionery are sweet bakery and chocolate, each with reach of more than 40 million. These subcategories also are among the leaders for social engagement.
Limited Edition Gains Attention
Social media buzzes with mentions about limited edition Valentine’s goodies, regarding Valentine’s Day food trends. Consumers are talking about limited edition Valentine’s Day chocolate truffles, along with savory snacks like ready-to-cook Valentine’s Day dinner and Valentine’s Day chicken nuggets. Mentions are prominent regarding Valentine’s Day food and beverage to share with a loved one. Some of these are red wine, heart-shaped doughnuts, and limited-edition Valentine’s Day ice cream. One brand, Dunkin’, engages with consumers regarding their Valentine’s Day food favorites and then releases limited-edition heart-shaped donuts and Valentine’s Day sweets.
Chocolate and More
Chocolate is the classic flavor indulgence on Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day food trends show that milk chocolate is the leading flavor in Valentine’s chocolate gifts. It leads other flavors in reach and also has more than 100 million engagements. Berries and berry flavors are fruity, luxurious, and vibrantly colored naturally in Valentine’s Day red. Red velvet is trending on social media regarding Valentine’s Day trends. Limited edition Valentine’s Day launches include red velvet cookie dough, red velvet peanut butter cups, red velvet shakes, and red velvet cakes. Combinations of favorite flavors in limited edition Valentine’s sweets also are popular. Watch for these flavor combinations in sweet bakery items such as cookies, cakes, cake pops, and sprinkles.
Commitments on Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day candy companies are using AI to generate commitment-related messages on their products. These Valentine’s Day snacks and candies address commitments that consumers may want to make around relationships and life events.
What’s Next for Valentine’s Day Food and Valentine’s Day Beverages?
Watch for Valentine’s Day food trends featuring sweet flavors and unexpected flavors and texture twists, such as salted caramel chocolates, strawberry shortcake with rosewater cream, or dark chocolate with chili for a spicy kick. Expect to see more indulgent, decadent Valentine’s Day snacks made with high-quality ingredients and intense flavors. Chocolate may go more upscale with single-origin chocolate and gourmet truffles. Brands could support relationships with kits to make cocktails or Valentine’s Day dinner together with savory heart-shaped foods. Other ways to express love are customized boxes of chocolate, curated collections based on diet or flavor, gifts of a Valentine’s Day dinner or Valentine’s Day wine, and more celebration of Valentine’s Day the day before Valentine’s Day, for females to celebrate the holiday.
This article is based on Trending in Valentine’s Day Food & Beverage Buzz – Global report. This report is available to purchase or with an Innova Reports subscription. Reach out to find out more
