Sports drinks and energy drinks each climbed to their highest share of daily beverage occasions on record in the second quarter of 2026, extending gains from the first quarter, according to Datassential’s BUZZ Q2 2026 report. Sports drinks rose to 2.7% of total beverage occasions in the year ending Q2 2026, up from the prior quarter and above the 2.6% high the category had previously reached. Energy drinks climbed to 2.6%, up from 2.5% in the first quarter. Sports drinks ar

Menu price hikes are landing where guests are least likely to notice — on appetizers, desserts, and non-alcoholic beverages, not the entrees that drive visit decisions, according to Datassential’s Menu Price Tracker report. In June, limited-service restaurant appetizers rose 18.8% year over year, followed by desserts at 12.7% and non-alcoholic beverages at 11.4% — against just 3.4% for entrees and 2.5% for sides. The report notes those peripheral-item figures likely reflect m

Jacket potatoes, the viral U.K. take on loaded baked potatoes, scored higher with U.S. consumers than the other new, viral foods and beverages tested with consumers for Datassential’s most-recently released Social Media Sensations report. Jacket potatoes are baked potatoes topped with nearly any variety of ingredients, but in the U.K., toppings range from doner kebab (seasoned meat prepared on a vertical rotisserie) to baked beans to flavored butters and more. The concept sco

Quick service and midscale restaurants are ramping up combo and value meal introductions this year while fast casual and casual dining pull back, according to Datassential’s State of Value report. Overall introductions rose just 3% year-to-date. Quick service, which accounts for the bulk of value meal activity, climbed 13% while fast casual fell 32%. Midscale and casual dining posted sharper swings, up 71% and down 50% respectively, though off considerably smaller bases. The

Friendsgiving, the casual, friend-centric counterpart to Thanksgiving, is showing up as an under-served occasion that skews toward Gen Z and Millennials, according to Datassential’s Fall Trends report. The two fall celebrations run on opposite generational lines. A quarter of Gen Z and nearly as many Millennials observe Friendsgiving, but participation drops off sharply with age, falling to just 9% of Boomers. Thanksgiving flips that pattern: 92% of Boomers celebrate, more th

Consumer appetite for fall specials is at a seasonal high, with 61% of consumers interested in limited-edition items at retail or restaurants this autumn, more than any other season, according to Datassential’s Fall Trends report. More than half of consumers associate the fall season with special restaurant flavors, dishes, beverages, and LTOs, and operators appear to be moving to meet that demand. Some fall flavors are already hitting menus in August. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Gen Z is not shopping for prepared foods any more often than other generations, they are shopping on a different clock, according to Datassential’s Supermarket Prepared report. Nearly 9-in-10 grocery shoppers said their last grocery trip had been that same day or within the previous week. Gen Z shoppers were more likely to have gone longer between visits: 12% had last shopped within the last two weeks, compared with 9% overall. Six percent had gone as long as two to three wee

Combo and value meals command some of the highest prices on quick-service and fast-casual menus, yet consumers still rate them among the best value available, according to Datassential’s State of Value report. Combo meals at quick-service restaurants averaged $8.20 in 2025, 27% above the segment’s $6.45 average across all limited-time offers and pricier than a sandwich sold individually ($7.33). In fast casual, combo meals averaged $11.08, 30% above the segment’s $8.54 averag

Winter flavors and menu items are showing up on fall menus well ahead of the holidays, according to Datassential’s Fall Trends 2026 report. Traditional winter and holiday flavors are indexing higher on fall menus, with candy cane and gingerbread “muscling onto fall menus well ahead of the holidays,” the report notes. Gingerbread appeared in 10 LTOs, new menu items, and returning items at major chains last fall. Peppermint, another holiday staple, showed up in 41, with nearl

Café culture is driving some of the sharpest gains in consumer trial rates across a variety of formats, from drinks and food to the methods used to prepare them, according to Datassential’s Consumer Preference Shifts report. Cold foam, the aerated milk topping served on iced coffee drinks, led these gains, with the share of consumers who have tried it climbing 10.7 percentage points over the past two years to 32% — the largest trial gain of any item on the list after birria t

Household income is steering consumers onto different food trend paths, according to Datassential’s Consumer Preference Shifts report, with lower earners leading trials of widely available comfort foods and higher earners driving early adoption of global and specialty items. Consumers earning under $49,000 lead trial and affinity for widely available comfort foods, both classic and global. Birria tacos posted the bracket’s largest affinity gain, up 9.8%, followed by cold foam

Plant-forward dishes are running into a value perception problem at foodservice, with nearly two-thirds of consumers saying these dishes seem overpriced for what they offer, according to Datassential’s Plant-Forward Opportunity report. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers agree that plant-forward dishes often seem overpriced for what they offer, and 57% say they should usually cost less than meat-based equivalents. Resistance to paying a premium has also grown in recent yea

The share of consumers that said they cut back on dining out hit the highest rate in more than a year, though operators largely maintained higher expectations for traffic and sales, according to Datassential’s July 2026 Table Stakes Tracker report. Nearly half of consumers, 49%, said they cut back on restaurant meals in the past month, up 6 points from May. Looking ahead, 48% said they expect to dine out less often or stop completely, while just 13% expect to increase their v

Five global breads have entered the Inception stage of Datassential’s Bread Menu Adoption Cycle, a sign operators are testing global bread formats well ahead of consumer demand. These new entrants are globally rooted, spanning influences from Central America to Southeast Asia. Among them are lefse, a thin Norwegian potato flatbread that resembles a crepe; simit, a sesame-crusted bread ring typically sold as street food in Istanbul; and pupusa, a Salvadoran griddled masa cake

As consumers shift back toward animal protein even as beef prices climb, operators are turning to beef cheeks, a low-cost, underused cut, to capitalize on the trend without the price tag of pricier cuts. Beef cheek menu penetration has grown 33% over the past four years as operators look for a lower-cost way to meet renewed demand for animal protein amid rising beef prices, according to Datassential’s Animal Protein Issue report. Nearly three of four consumers say animal meat

Mixed-protein dishes draw the highest level of consumer interest when it comes to plant-forward eating, according to Datassential’s 2026 Plant-Forward Opportunity report. Mixed-protein dishes are those that combine animal and plant proteins in one plate, such as a stew with pork and lentils, or a grain bowl topped with egg, rather than swapping meat out entirely. Sixty-four percent of consumers say they are open to trying more mixed-protein dishes, ahead of interest in dishe

Generative AI has advanced from the Adoption stage to the Proliferation stage on Datassential’s updated Macro Trends Menu Adoption Cycle, with new survey data showing that more than half of consumers are now familiar with the technology and over a third use AI tools at least once a day. At present, AI usage skews younger, with Gen Z and Millennials significantly more likely than Gen X or Boomers to use AI tools daily and describe themselves as familiar with it. Foodservice br

Global cuisine is no longer a specialty play in American foodservice, but a baseline expectation for most consumers, according to Datassential’s Global, Redefined report. In general, eighty-nine percent of consumers have dined at a restaurant serving cuisine from another culture, and 86% have tried an international snack or packaged product. Seventy-seven percent have cooked globally-inspired dishes at home, and the same share have shopped at an international grocery store.

Birria has grown 221% on menus over the past four years with its appeal extending past the taco format that first made it a breakout star, according to Datassential’s Animal Protein Issue. Birria, traditionally a stewed goat dish, has become best known in recent years in its beef form, most often served as a taco with a side of consommé for dipping. Forty percent of consumers now say they want to try it, while 27% have already tried it, and 24% say they love or like it. Overa

Menu prices in the Midwest have been rising faster than other regions so far this year, effectively narrowing the pricing gap between that area and the national average. Datassential’s Price Monitor shows that across the country, the average price for core menu items rose 2.5% at full-service restaurants in the first six months of 2026, while at limited-service restaurants they ticked 2.3% higher. Those increases were more pronounced in the Midwest, where menu prices are tr