Consumers are willing to pay more for a meal, but only if that extra money buys something they can see on their plate, Datassential highlighted in its recent State of Value webinar. That pattern held across menu categories Datassential tested. For an entrée Caesar salad priced at $10.99, purchase interest started at 40%, rising to 44% when diners could add grilled chicken for $4 more, then dropped to 35% once the price reached $18.99 for steak or salmon (an $8 upcharge). Pizz

Dinner has become supermarket operators’ single biggest growth priority within the prepared-foods department, according to Datassential’s Supermarket Prepared report. Sixty-eight percent of supermarket operators say they are actively trying to grow their dinner business, up 18 points from 50% in 2023, the largest gain of any daypart in the report. Lunch and off-peak hours are also priorities for at least half of operators, though neither moved as sharply: lunch rose 3 points

Food companies racing to eliminate artificial dyes are increasingly choosing to go colorless altogether rather than pay escalating premiums for natural alternatives. The shift comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed the food industry to phase out synthetic colors by the end of 2026. Bloomberg reported that natural colorant costs are poised to skyrocket as the industry races to reformulate. Carotenoids derived from pumpkins could climb roughly 600% in price

Sixty-one percent of consumers actively seek out coupons, rewards, or deals before deciding what to eat or buy, Datassential highlighted in its recent State of Value webinar. Which discounts land depends on who is being asked. Gen Z over-indexes on time-based offers such as happy hour, while Boomers respond more to permanent ones such as a senior discount. Operators have adopted some of these tactics more than others. Combo meals, daily menu specials with reduced pricing, and

Protein remains the reigning king of viral food content, pulling more engagement than any other term tracked in Datassential’s latest Social Listening Quarterly report. Protein mentions climbed 57% over the first quarter, and engagement rose 21% to 51 million, driven largely by time-saving recipes that deliver the macronutrient without sacrificing flavor: “lazy” formats, 30-minute builds, and bold Mexican- and Japanese-inspired dishes did the heavy lifting. “Over the past two

Korean kimbap, Malaysian karipap, and Moroccan makouda are gaining ground with consumers, thanks to a shared trait: portability, according to Datassential’s World Bites: Global Snacks report. Kimbap makes the clearest case. The Korean rice roll — seaweed wrapped around sesame-oil seasoned rice and packed with fillings like bulgogi beef, spicy tuna, or crab — is up 133% on menus over the past four years, with another 74% projected. Retail drove much of kimbap’s visibility, wit

Caffeinated and CBD waters generate more consumer curiosity than any other water format, though conversion has yet to catch up. Roughly three in ten consumers say they’re open to trying caffeinated water (31%) or CBD water (30%), according to Datassential’s BUZZ: Water Topical report. Both formats rank ahead of every other water type on openness, but usage still trails. The share of consumers who have had caffeinated water many times climbed to 10% in 2026 from 8% in 2025, w

Pickup of ready-to-cook meal kits from supermarkets posted the largest gain of any weekly meal source tracked since 2023, according to Datassential’s Supermarket Prepared report. Thirty-four percent of consumers now pick up a ready-to-cook meal kit from a supermarket or c-store weekly, up 11% from three years ago — outpacing every other behavior in the report’s weekly meal-sourcing table. Pre-made meal pickup gained 7 points, third-party delivery apps orders gained 7 points,

Two Indian street foods, pani puri and papri chaat, are drawing outsized interest from younger and multicultural consumers, making them prime targets for stateside menus, according to Datassential’s World Bites: Global Snacks report. A quarter of U.S. consumers say they want to try pani puri, also known as golgappa or puchka, a bite-sized crispy shell filled with spiced mashed potato and chickpeas and dunked in tamarind-and-mint-infused water, yet only 11% know what it is. Th

Restaurant menu prices remained elevated but steady in the year through June 2026, rising 2.6% overall, even as individual menu categories split sharply by region, according to Datassential’s Menu Price Tracker report. The widest gaps fell on the menu’s periphery. Dessert prices climbed 19.1% in the West and 15.4% in the Northeast, but just 9.3% in the South and 7.4% in the Midwest — an 11.7-point spread. Non-alcoholic beverages split wider still: 20.5% in the Midwest against

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