What IFE and HRC 2026 actually told us about where food and drink is heading
IFE and HRC 2026 was not a show defined by novelty. The products and propositions that stood out were not loud or shiny.
They were quietly solving something real, reflecting a consumer who is negotiating with themselves every time they eat: health without sacrifice, pleasure without excess, convenience without complexity. Walking the floor as a food and drink consultant, three themes kept surfacing. Here is what stood out, and what it means if you are a brand trying to work out what to do next.
Snacking is stepping up, and the opportunity is not where most brands are looking
Snacking is evolving fast, driven by a younger generation treating it as a meal occasion in its own right. Consumers want more from it. Not just something to fill a gap, but something that tastes good, does something useful and feels worth the calories. Three patterns kept showing up on the show floor.
Snacking as discovery
The best snacks at IFE invited discovery. Cheese Dot Bakery’s reimagined pao de queijo, a traditional Brazilian cheese snack, is a strong example. Genuinely novel in the UK market, properly differentiated, and a product that backs up an origin story with a taste that delivers. The kind of product that leaves you feeling like you have found something before anyone else has. A good origin story is one thing, but having a product that lives up to it is what turns trial into repeat.
Fruit snacking, freshened up
Whole fruit and clean ingredients in sweet snacking is gathering real momentum. Hungry Monkey are a strong example of a brand doing it well. Their freeze-dried raspberries coated in yogurt flavoured with matcha and sour cherry were a genuine standout at the show. Better ingredients, bolder flavours, and an ambient format that makes them grabbable on the go. A proper step up from the yogurt raisins and fruit bars that have owned that space for years. Launching soon, and worth watching.
Get in touchProtein beyond the plate
Consumer appetite for protein is not new. It has topped our tracked list of consumer health priorities for years in the Future Food Trend Tracker. What is shifting is where consumers want to get it. Snacking is the next frontier, and the demand is real. At the show, Hungry Boar’s meat snack range and Presteez’s clean-pressed protein bars both signal that the category is waking up.
But here is the honest read: neither fully cracks it. The protein snack space is still largely gym-coded, overly processed or samey. The ambient shelf in particular feels wide open. For a mainstream consumer who just wants a clean, satisfying protein hit on the go, the real innovation opportunity has not been seized yet.
For the right brand, this is a significant gap