What Separates a Lasting Food Trend From a Fad

What’s the next hot honey? The next oat milk? Every year, new flavors, ingredients, and formats show up on menus and retail shelves, and it’s not always obvious which ones are worth betting on.

Datassential’s 2026 Trends Report found that 64% of consumers are looking forward to new food and beverage trends in 2026. The question isn’t whether something new is coming. It’s whether the flavor, beverage, or industry trend you’re looking at right now has staying power, or whether it’s about to fizzle out.

This report gives you a practical framework for predicting trends and telling the difference between what lasts and what doesn’t, backed by Datassential’s AI-powered intelligence for the food and beverage industry.

What’s inside

• The trend vs. fad cheat sheet. The signals of a real trend and a fad.
• The Menu Adoption Cycle (MAC), explained. How food and beverage trends move and why catching them early matters.
• Real examples, called early. Gochujang, ube, ranch water, birria, hojicha, and AI, with the data behind each call.
• Why fads still matter. How a fad like Dalgona coffee pointed to a bigger trend (cold foam and beverage texture).

Why it matters

Trends shape business decisions: what to add to the menu or new product development, what to cut, where to put marketing dollars, and which existing products need a refresh. For operators, that means sharper menu decisions and staying ahead of what customers will expect next. For suppliers, it means knowing which flavors, ingredients, and formats to develop and pitch before the market catches up. Fads, while smaller in scale, are still worth reacting to quickly through limited-time offers. Knowing which is which, and acting accordingly, is what builds brands and products with staying power.

Complete the form to download the report and get the framework on predicting trends.