As the holiday season approaches, food and drink manufacturers have a unique opportunity to draw inspiration from retailers in crafting their Christmas New Product Development (NPD). Christmas is synonymous with gathering, joy, and savouring delightful culinary creations. This year, the evolving landscape of culinary trends promises to infuse a fresh vibrancy into festive traditions. Anticipate innovative twists on classic dishes, inventive cocktails, and desserts that will redefine the Christmas dining experience in 2023. In exploring these trends, we'll also spotlight standout launches from supermarket Christmas ranges, demonstrating how manufacturers can glean insights and ideas to enhance their own seasonal offerings.
Global Fusion
In addition to the usual traditional trimmings, global fusion is a trend that has grown into the colder months. People are mixing diverse flavours and styles from all over the world: imagine a Christmas feast with an Indian spice-infused chicken, leftover turkey tacos, or a yule log cake with a gastronomic touch. For food and drink producers, tapping into this global fusion trend presents an exciting opportunity to infuse their Christmas offerings with innovative, cross-cultural inspirations.
Supermarket retailers have taken much influence from Asia this year with an assortment of Chinese-inspired festive-themed food products, with the heavy inclusion of bao buns. Sainsbury’s ‘Baos of Holly’ are Christmas pudding-shaped soft dough buns with wood ear mushrooms, water chestnuts, carrot, spring onion and ginger inside. Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer have opted for snowman-shaped bao buns filled with vegetables and hoisin sauce, and Tesco have embraced in steamed duck and orange buns, with the visual appearance mimicking that of tangerines.
Sainsbury’s Asian-inspired Baos of Holly (Source: Sainsbury’s)
Plant-based Popularity
The continuing popularity of plant-based diets is not only reshaping Christmas tables but also revolutionising the landscape for vegetarian and vegan food and drink producers. As the demand for plant-based options continues, producers in this niche find themselves at the forefront of innovation, crafting plant-based renditions of classic Christmas dishes such as turkey, stuffing, and mince pies. This trend extends beyond the vegetarian and vegan market, as it also provides an avenue for all food and drink manufacturers to diversify their offerings in response to heightened consumer interest.
Leading the charge this Christmas, Tesco offers a multitude of new Plant Chef releases, such as the Mushroom & Chestnut Wreath, No-Turkey Crown with Herb & Onion Stuffing, and Butternut Wellington. Plant-based Wellington’s are also in demand elsewhere, with Sainsbury’s launching a mushroom and pea protein Wellington, and Waitrose stocking mushroom duxelles and ‘no beef’ braised in a shallot, thyme, and garlic vegetable stock.
Plant-based Wellington’s are popular this year (Source: Waitrose)
Blissful Beverages
Festive supermarket drinks are all about delivering a delightful burst of seasonal flavours that evoke the holiday spirit, with supermarkets coming alive with a selection of spiced offerings. When developing festive drink launches for retail, manufacturers must stay attuned to seasonal flavour trends, offering versatile options for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic preferences, with eye-catching packaging and limited-edition appeal. As you stroll through the aisles, be prepared to be enticed by velvety spiced rum and creamy eggnog blends, and zesty cranberry-infused spirits.
A spike has been witnessed this year among liqueurs, ready-to-drink cocktails and creamy delights. Particular highlights include Sainsbury’s Sticky Toffee Rum Liqueur, Ready-to-Drink Berry Bramble Cocktail, Mandarin Gin Liqueur and Blackcurrant Gin Liqueur with Raspberries. Marks & Spencer have added variations of Irish cream liqueurs to their ranks, with Tiramisu and Millionaire’s inspired flavours, in both caramel and Belgian chocolate available.
Showstopping Desserts
From intricately decorated gingerbread houses to whimsical dessert platters adorned with miniature reindeer-shaped pastries. These showstopping desserts not only satisfy your sweet tooth but add a dash of wonder to your celebrations. Consumers are seeking several key elements in a showstopping dessert for Christmas. First and foremost is visual appeal — intricate decorations, festive colours, and creative presentations. Uniqueness is also a priority, with consumers drawn to desserts that offer a surprising twist, whether it's a hidden filling, innovative flavour combination, or unexpected texture. From innovative pumpkin pies to hot chocolate mousse domes revealing a surprise with each delightful bite, get ready to expect some unique centrepieces.
Among the retailers, within their range this year, Tesco have a showstopping Finest Mulled Berry Meringue Wreath dusted with amber lustre, finished with hand placed berries, dark chocolate shards and a winter coulis. Sainsbury’s have impressed with their ‘Home for Christmas’ Belgian chocolate mousse encased in a snowy village, with a hidden centre of salted caramel sauce and crunchy biscuit balls. Meanwhile, Marks and Spencer invite shoppers to be wowed by their Passionfruit and White Chocolate Yule Log, featuring a sweet snow dusting.
Feastive Nostalgia
Nostalgia is at the heart of Christmas, with many embracing the comforting and familiar flavours of yesteryears, harkening back to cherished family recipes and holiday traditions. This nostalgic trend brings a sense of comfort and connection, making Christmas a time to savour not only delicious meals but also the cherished memories they evoke.
With modern twists on dinner table staples evident, the classic Christmas Day starter of prawn cocktail has been elevated by Asda for their Extra Special Charred Tomato, Prawn & Lobster Cocktail. For a Boxing Day feast, Waitrose have revolutionised cooked ham with their Old-Fashioned Glazed Ham; a bone-in leg of ham, hand-scored and dry-cured with demerara sugar, and served with candied orange slices, smoke-flavoured cherries and a whisky-orange glaze. Aldi, meanwhile, have levelled up the traditional turkey joint with a roly-poly twist, shaping it like the jam-based classic. Speaking of dessert, Sainsbury’s have prepared a Spruced Up Sticky Toffee which amalgamates all-butter sponge cake, sweet dates, salted caramel sauce and sugar snow sprinkles.
Aldi’s Specially Selected Roly Poly Turkey Joint (Source: The Grocer)
Novelty Fun
Novelty Christmas food is all about adding a playful twist to traditional dishes by transforming them into fun shapes and characters. From snowman-shaped pancakes to reindeer-stencilled cookies, the holiday season becomes a culinary canvas for creativity. These delightful edible creations not only bring smiles to both kids and adults, but also ignite the festive spirit with every bite.
Waitrose have gone down an aquatic novelty route with their Shimmering Salmon Mousse; a detailed, salmon-shaped and engraved mousse with a bronze lustre sheen all-over. Adding flare to your usual crackers and cheese is ‘Rocking Around the Charcuter’tree’, Sainsbury’s create-your-own Christmas tree charcuterie board with marinated Iberico cheese, semi-dried tomatoes, olives and sweet red pepper drops. Inevitably, Marks and Spencer had to join in with the novelty fun by getting Colin in on the action. The supermarket giants’ insect mascot makes an appearance in two limited edition products. He sports a Christmas jumper with his own face on it in Christmas Jumper Colin the Caterpillar Cake, and in Colin’s Greatest Bits, we see him deconstructed into individual components, housing white chocolate feet, white and milk chocolate faces, and milk chocolate body parts, adorned with candy-coated nibs. Battling alongside Colin is Aldi’s own Christmas mascot, Kevin the Carrot, who has taken their NPD in the direction of vanilla-flavoured Kevin the Carrot ice creams ‘on-a-stick’, and carrot-shaped hollow milk chocolate treats.
Colin the Caterpillar donning a festive jumper in M&S’ limited edition Christmas cake (Source: Ocado)
From the global fusion trend that brings together diverse flavours to the plant-based movement reshaping our holiday feasts, there's something for every palate. The trends observed in the holiday season of 2023 provide valuable insights and inspiration for strategic planning, looking ahead to Christmas 2024.
By staying attuned to consumer preferences and market dynamics, manufacturers can position themselves at the forefront of Christmas 2024 development, delivering products that not only meet evolving demands but also create an immersive and delightful holiday experience for consumers.
For support with your festive product development, please contact the team at ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre, who can help you get ready for 2024 and beyond.
