I just spent a jam-packed 4 days at Natural Products Expo, Expo East. This was my third year at the show and also attending the New Hope Network’s Influencer Summit. (See my 2017 Expo East Highlights here and my 2018 Expo East recap here). As always, when walking the show floor, there are some stand-out food trends.
Here are this year’s top five:
One // Collagen + CBD. Collagen was big last year and it still is! I found collagen in everything from water to bars. If you’re looking to reap the full benefits of it, you’re probably better off with bone broth a la Brodo or by adding a scoop of grass-fed collagen to your smoothie or coffee, but I’ll admit the idea of it in everyday snack foods is enticing. Likewise, CBD is in everything from water to honey and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere!
Two // Coffee-flavored Everything. If the influx of coffee shops popping up in every major city is any indication that coffee is king, so is the trend of infusing coffee into everything from drinks to chocolate bars. Among them, Theo has a new coffee toffee chocolate bar and La Croix has a new coffee-flavored cola drink.
Three // Tea Drinks. There was no shortage of tea at Expo East. Considered healthy when brewed on its own, tea is now infused into tea-based beverages creating sips that not only boast the functional benefits of tea, but are also unique to drink and serve. Petal adds sparkle to botanical blends to make them both sippable by themselves or spikable with your favorite spirit. Hoplark Hoptea is tea brewed like craft beer (with hops).
Four // Oat Milk. Oat milk was everywhere from oat milk coffee creamers to oat milk ice creams. Elmhurst 1925 introduced single-serve, ready-to-drink oat lattes in golden milk, cacao and espresso flavors, Swedish oat drink company, Oatly, debuted their new line of ice creams and Van Leeuwen featured a new line of oat milk ice creams.
Five // Keto. The low fat, high carb Ketogenic Diet is popular and food manufacturers are capitalizing on it. There was an excess of keto-friendly foods and snacks all over the show floor.
Attending Expo East as an influencer always makes the epxerience even more valuable. One of my favorite aspects of the Influencer Summit at Expo East is that it focuses on using influence as a “force for good.” This is certainly what drew me to blogging and pursuing a career in this industry – to be in service of anyone who needs to hear my message and I hope that comes through in every post.
If you’re curious about my favorite products and top picks from this year’s show, check out today’s Instagram post for more from Expo East. ]]>
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