Food & Confectionery Trends for Fall
When it comes to issues of popular food culture and trend spotting, platforms like Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok have replaced consumer magazines and television. The glossy pages of tantalizing, mouth-watering photos of baked goods, candy, or easy recipes have been replaced by Pinterest board and TikTok videos created by food-focused influencers. This is why food and confectionery trends today move faster than ever, particularly with the onset of everyone’s favorite food season, fall.
Pumpkin spice is here folks! (This is a trend that just keeps gathering steam!)
Colorful & Fun Fall Food
There’s clearly something psychological in the popularity of fall food. Fall food and confectionery offerings are heartier and comforting. Autumn foods accompany social, sporting and holiday events and tend to be more fun and more colorful.
What trends will we see this year?
- Color-coordinating tailgates to match team logos. With the fall comes football, one of America’s favorite traditions, however, tailgating goes far beyond just a football stadium parking lot. Tailgating is a multi-billion dollar industry, and food brands having been taking notes. Rabid fans celebrate their favorite teams in every way possible, so creating candy, baked goods and packaging in team colors is one way to increase sales. Tap into custom-colored confections that invoke team spirit.
Spicy candy and chocolate are having a moment. Social media users are mad for spice challenges, and there’s no better time to embrace them than this fall with options like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili & ghost peppers. Color plays a big part in fall confections taste perceptions. Food color psychology tells us that the redder the candy, cupcake frosting, or other confection, the more the consumers believe it to be spicy. Even though these color choices might have nothing to do with the food itself, they can inspire emotions, invoke nostalgia, suggest complex concepts, or link products to specific holiday celebrations, family occasions, and even fashion.
- “Charcutreats.” While charcuterie boards remain a popular food trend on social media, food influencers have put a new spin on them with a variety of dessert charcuterie boards. These are smorgasbord-style dessert boards that contain a variety of sweet treats, including candy, chocolate-dipped fruit, nuts and brittle, chocolate or caramel dips, cookies, marzipan, and a variety of other bright and attractive sweet treats.
- Halloween. Less of a trend but definitely an important fall confectionery event! We’d argue that there is no holiday more closely associated with candy and confection than Halloween (admittedly Easter is a close second!) Food brands must plan ahead to capture the attention of trick-or-treaters who are seeking the next great treat. Popular custom colors for Halloween include deeply colored oranges, midnight black, blood red, bone white and purple.
- ASMR candy. Remember Pop Rocks anyone? ASMR or “autonomous sensory meridian response” is what you feel when doing or eating something - like that satisfying psychological sensation you get from popping bubble wrap, for example. ASMR content creators are now using food and candy in their videos to trigger those satisfying sensations in their viewers. We see it in squeeze or “ooze” tubes, popping candy, and freeze-dried candy. Food manufacturers’ goals are to make the sensation of eating the candy product as intriguing as its taste and color.
- Extremely sour candy. Ultra-sour candies are gaining traction lately, and it may be due to the popularity of TikTok videos that challenge viewers to see “how sour they can go.” Candies like Toxic Waste, Slime Licker, and others provoke extreme reactions and experiences that are fun to share in groups, either in person or via social media. One of the things most of these ultra-sour candy brands have in common is their dramatic appearance, which is achieved with bright custom neon colors.
- Candy as co-branding. Thanks to omni-channel marketing, cobranding is one of the hottest marketing trends today. Launching a new car dealership? Provide candy at the grand opening that is colored and printed to match the automaker’s logo. Planning an exhibit at a trade show? Nothing brings visitors into a booth faster than free custom colored candy designed to match your product or service. Raising money for charity? Reward your volunteers and donors with sweet treats that invoke your chosen cause.
Why It Makes Sense to Monitor Trends
Candy manufacturers and confectioners need to monitor social media platforms for seasonal trends to take advantage of opportunities for increased market share and greater sales. Trends – and the opportunities they create – come and go quickly, so it’s critical to have the ability to adapt rapidly. That means having a custom color partner who is responsive, able to formulate quickly, and turn around orders rapidly is essential to their success.
Adapt to Food Color Trends Fast
Our Technical Team can provide custom colors for branding, logos, special projects, seasonal themes, marketing trends and more. Colorcon offers a wide array of colorings and inks so you can adapt to trends quickly.
The Food & Confectionery Division of Colorcon Specialty Markets delivers a wide variety of products to color, glaze, polish, coat and enhance the appearance of your products: everything you need to produce truly great confections and foods.
Contact us today to discuss your next trendsetting project!
