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

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