From skyrocketing sales to the damaging effects of climate change, the food and beverage industry has faced some heady ups and depressing downs in 2024. But what NPD trends have fuelled the ups and dealt with the downs?
We countdown the top five NPD trends of 2024.
5: Flavour went global
Now, we know what you’re thinking - global flavours have been influencing European cuisine for decades! And you’re absolutely right, they have. But there’s been a significant uptick in their influence on food and beverage NPD launches this year. This shift is a result of a change in consumer interest and makes global flavours our number five in top NPD trends for 2024.
According to Innova Market Insights, 1 in 3 consumers say they’re intrigued by new, unique and different flavours, and 1 in 4 consumers say they’re attracted to interesting and exotic global flavour combinations.
And brands have responded to this interest with a multitude of new products hitting the market, including Powerade Golden Mango and Dolmio’s Sriracha Style Chunky Vegetables.
“Consumers are open, even eager to explore adventurous flavours,” said a spokesperson for Innova Market Insights. “Consumer demand for more flavour variety in food and beverage products is growing.”
4: Non-alcoholic proved it’s not a phase
Another major trend to impact the industry, is the decline in alcohol consumption. But far from being bad news for beverage manufacturers, it’s actually created a wealth of NPD opportunities. Why? Because the decline, fuelled primarily by the growing health and wellness trend, has led to the launch of a whole range of alcohol-free alternatives, with everything from protein shakes to alcohol-free spirits, proving popular.
And for those who enjoy the flavour of beer, there is also a growing non-alcoholic beer industry, which is proving hugely popular with consumers. So much so that the non-alcoholic market is now valued at $36.8bn, according to Statista, and it’s projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.74% over the next five years.
What’s more, we’ve seen the rise of brands entirely dedicated to non-alcoholic drinks, with Three Spirit, CleanCo and Pentire just a few of the new kids on the block.
“Alcohol free options are better than ever,” says Freya Twigden, founder of kombucha brand Fix8 Kombucha and Fibe Prebiotic Soda. “We historically didn’t have the choice of something interesting or tasty if we weren’t drinking alcohol, now we truly do.”
Meanwhile, for those looking to cut down, not cut out, there are also low-alcohol options, such as Carl Jung’s low alcohol wine range and St Austell’s low-alcohol ales.
In short, the low- and no-alcohol space is buzzing as we enter 2025.
3: AI took control
You could say that 2024 was the year when AI changed everything. We’ll leave you to decide if it’s for the better or worse…
But whatever your feelings towards AI, it’s here and it’s here to stay, influencing food and beverage NPD along the way. How? Well, in many cases by speeding them up.
“Artificial Intelligence is poised to revolutionise all aspects of business, particularly new-product development,” says Dr Robert G Cooper, a research fellow at Penn State University. “Leading early-adopter firms demonstrate that AI not only finds many applications in NPD, but also offers substantial payoffs, such as 50% reductions in development times.”
And not only that, AI is also being used to predict the success of a new product, with Carlsberg, Danone and Nestlé investing in the futuristic tech. The FMCG giants are said to be using an AI-powered platform, Cambri’s new Launch AI tool, which claims to improve the success rate of NPD launches to 73%.
Outside of NPD, AI is shaking up food and beverage in other ways, including the streamlining of stock management, aiding regenerative agriculture through green technology, and improving the customer experience through product recommendations.
2: GLP-1 became big business
Many of us entered 2024 having never heard of GLP-1 drugs, but most won’t be leaving it that way. GLP-1 has gone from a little-known medication to the go-to weight-loss term. In fact, many consumers and manufacturers don’t even realise that GLP-1 is just one of a multitude of weight-loss drugs, including metformin and bupropion/naltrexone, available on the market.
If you are one of the few who hasn’t heard of GLP-1, allow us to enlighten you. GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, drugs are a form of medication, originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes. It was later discovered that GLP-1 could also be used to aid weight loss, and was quickly embraced by notable names including Oprah Winfrey, Rebel Wilson and Elon Musk.
This success has led to a flurry of NPD activity, as brands seek to create products, which meet the nutritional demands of patients.
“As the use of medications to support weight loss continues to rise, we see an opportunity to serve those consumers,” said a spokesperson for food and beverage giant, Nestlé.
And this trend is clearly just getting started, boasting an already impressive market value of $47.4bn and a projected CAGR of 33.2%, according to Markets and Markets.
1: Gut health became big business
While other food and beverage trends burst onto the scene in 2024, gut health has been bubbling away quietly for some time. Now its power and influence is really being felt in the NPD space, making it our number one NPD trend of 2024.
In fact, it’s rare that a product launched in the past 12 months has not alluded to gut health benefits in some way.
And the reason for this? Understanding of the importance of gut health has grown significantly over the past year, with terms such as gut-brain axis, gut-skin axis and gut hair axis, entering into common parlance.
“Gut health really is an important area within food and drink, particularly functional food and drink,” says Rick Miller, associate director for specialised nutrition at Mintel.
From gut-friendly flapjacks to gut gummies, gut-friendly products are popping up all over the place, as food and drinks manufacturers seek out ways to get involved in the growing gut-health trend.
Even ice cream brand, Häagen-Dazs, has entered the gut health market, with the launch of a range of Cultured Crème products, which are said to blur the lines between yoghurt and ice cream.
And far from reaching its peak, the gut health trend keeps on growing, with a current market value of $51.62bn and a projected CAGR of 8.3% for the next five years, according to Grand View Research.
