CHICAGO — Sales of specialty foods and beverages across all retail and foodservice channels neared $194 billion in 2022, up 9.3% from 2021. It’s estimated they reached $207 billion at the end of 2023, according to the Specialty Food Association (SFA), New York, which will be hosting the 48th Winter Fancy Food Show Jan. 21-23 in Las Vegas.

And quite the expo it is expected to be, said Denise Purcell, vice president of resource development for the SFA.

“When times are tough, people start treating themselves and specialty foods are the perfect way to counteract what’s going on these days,” she said. “The resilient specialty food industry continues to thrive despite weathering challenges since 2020.

“While food inflation has impacted the market in the past couple of years, that is stabilizing, and the industry is poised for the future with several positives in place. Consumers have more retail channels in which to purchase specialty foods, foodservice is rebounding, and makers are innovating with sourcing, ingredients and promotion.”

Expect to see lots of innovation on the expo floor this year in crunchy snacks and breakfast foods, said Purcell. Many of them will have a global twist.

“With annual sales of $6.1 billion, crunchy snacks are the top-selling specialty food category,” Purcell said. “We are seeing new grains and more seeds being explored in this space, along with new shapes and unique formats.”

The Drinks Bakery, Edinburgh, Scotland, for example, is making its Fancy Food debut with Drinks Biscuits, an eight-year-old product line ready for export. The biscuits are flavored with the intent for pairing with specific libations.

“After watching the emergence of craft drinks over the last 20 years, I realized that the snack market had hardly changed and wanted to share my family’s appreciation for the partnership between snacks and drinks, thus The Drinks Bakery was born,” said Andy Murray, founder.

The Lancashire Cheese & Spring Onion biscuits are intended to be consumed with a hoppy IPA, stout or pilsner beer. They also go with dry white wine or Speyside whiskey, according to the company. The Pecorino, Rosemary & Scottish Seaweed biscuits, on the other hand, go best with gin-based cocktails.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn LLC, Asheville, NC, has added three flavors — Caribbean jerk, Mediterranean herb and Mexican street corn — to its offerings.

“We developed the three new flavors after a trip to Italy with my kids,” said Ginger Frank, founder and CEO. “Snack flavors around the world are so incredibly varied and interesting. I’m always striving to expand Poppy’s flavor palette. The team and I started with 10 international flavor ideas. The whole Poppy team taste-tested them and voted, and these three came out on top.”

After snacking, which consumers are doing at any hour of the day, the breakfast daypart is where the action is in terms of innovation. Convenience is the recurring attribute with these products.  

“Since the pandemic, we’ve seen breakfast being the growing meal for specialty food purchasers,” Purcell said. “Many of the new products that will be featured this year focus on added protein, better-for-you ingredients, lower sugar, new grains, added convenience and, of course, specialty.”

First-time exhibitor Dutch Village, Orem, Utah, is rolling out gourmet syrups for pancakes and waffles. Flavors include peach cream, salted caramel and snickerdoodle cinnamon.

Global flavors are showing up everywhere, said Purcell. It’s all about elevated convenience.

“Foods that help you bring global cuisine to your home kitchen,” she said. “And consumers are telling us they want more short cuts.”

Shingi Co., Ltd., Tokyo, wants Americans to feel they are traveling through Japan with its new frozen Ekiben Onigiri. The company uses advanced freezing technology to preserve freshly cooked rice balls using different local ingredients and recipes from regions throughout Japan. They are ready after two minutes in the microwave.

“It’s all about maximizing pleasure and flavor, while minimizing stress and mess,” Purcell said. “And at the same time, experimenting with food and flavor for taste but also a richer cultural experience.”

With all specialty food and beverage categories, environmental impact is back in the conversation.

“Interest in environmental-based purchasing fell significantly as soon as COVID hit in 2020 but is now fully recovered in 2023,” Purcell said. “Gen Z and millennials remain the main drivers of interest in ethical trends.