Sweet treats for the festive season
Sweet treats for the festive season
Trend 1: Nostalgia, but make it new
Rituals and tradition are a big part of the celebrations during this festive season, and nostalgia plays a big part. We see traditional flavors and year-on-year classics coming back to the shelves, but not always in the shape or form we’ve come to expect. Stores turn into showrooms for offers that blur and build upon the different categories of sweet treats we’ve come to know and love.
Red, green and gold shades create that cozy feeling, and snow crystals, stars and holly bring that winter vibe that fits every celebration!
Tesco (UK): Finest Chocolate Winter Village Cake. Chocolate sponge filled and covered with chocolate ganache and chocolate flavoured buttercream. Covered with an edible collar and hand finished with delightful decorations and a sweet snow sprinkle.
Fortnum & Mason (UK): Praline Yule Log. Chocolate sponge, rolled by hand and bursting with a decadent praline ganache. Sprinkled with sleighfuls of crunchy hazelnuts and finished with chocolate snowflakes and rolls
Tesco (UK): Finest Salted Caramel & Chocolate Millionaires Choux Wreath. Golden choux pastry filled with salted caramel flavored cream and sauce. Hand finished with piped milk chocolate ganache, digestive biscuit crumb, milk chocolate shavings and a dusting of amber shimmer.
Tesco (UK): Finest Free From 4 Praline Brownie Slices. 4 Gluten-free Vegan chocolate and hazelnut brownies topped with chocolate praline icing and lustred hazelnut pieces.
Image: Free From Food Awards
Trend 2: Get personal, get inclusive
The holiday season goes beyond just Christmas. It is a time of connection for many consumers, and gifting treats is a tradition across consumers from all faiths and cultures.
In light of the rising prices of the past months, consumers are attracted to gifts that might not be as big, but instead are meaningful and/or personalized. They want to treat themselves and others with cheerful sweets. You don’t need to customize every single product, but consumers from all kinds of lifestyles, cultures and diets want something sweet for their celebrations! Focusing on kindness, connection and celebrations in the widest sense of the word during the festive season will attract more consumers to your sweet treats.
McDonalds (Austria): Kinderhilfe Donut (Childrens’ Help Donut). Donut with creamy vanilla filling and strawberry crunch. €0.50 per donut sold is donated to the Ronald McDonald foundation.
Boldú (Spain): Winter Fivebox. 5 donuts in different shapes, with coating. Contains a snowman with chocolate hat, a penguin with chocolate eyes and a polar bear with chocolate ears.
Trend 3: multisensorial experiences
Consumers love a multisensorial treat. Research shows that 3 in 5 consumers say they are interested in trying new sensory experiences*. They want to be surprised and excited by colors, designs and flavors that bring their celebrations to a whole new level!
This festive season, we see textures, shapes and colors playing a key role, as well as interactive experiences!
*Source: Innova Consumer Survey 2020. Average of France, UK, Spain, Germany, USA, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, India and China
Dunkin’ Donuts (Germany): The Hot Chocolate Donuts with a white, dark or milk chocolate coating and matching chocolate callets and crispearls.
Waitrose (UK): The Giant Cracking Penny. A Belgian chocolate shell with a shimmering bronze finish, that needs to be cracked to reveal rich chocolate mousse with hazelnut ganache, on a chocolate and hazelnut base.
Marks & Spencer (UK): Chocolate Topple Towers. A topple tower game with chocolate bars: intense dark chocolate, golden blond chocolate with a salted caramel truffle center, velvety milk chocolate in a shell of Belgian milk chocolate and Belgian white chocolate with a creamy vanilla flavored center.
Looking ahead: 2023 Holiday season
For next year, we expect the trends to build on the successes of this year.
A key element of the seasonal shopping for consumers is centered around gifting and sharing, which is the backdrop against which all other trends can shine.
Multisensorial will increasingly become a must, and will leave less exciting items far behind, where texture continues to be a key aspect.
In terms of color, we expect gold and bronze to stay big. Beautifully paired with brown flavors, such as milk and dark chocolate, as well as caramel, are considered classics for a reason. Green, the color of nature and sustainability, will brighten up next year’s selections.
Lastly, the experience of the seasonal products will be very important to consumers, who are always looking to make their lives, and their celebrations more exciting.
Dark chocolate tablets with candy cane patterns of Pistachios, red berry Crispy Whispers and Meringue crumbs
Christmas Tree pastries with a green glaze and a sprinkle of dark, milk and white chocolate crispy bites
