Income Shapes the Pace of Food Trend Adoption

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 and dirty soda.

Middle-income consumers, those earning $50,000 to $74,000, are showing the fastest trial growth for andouille and comeback sauce, both at a growth of 10.6%. Among those in the $75,000-to-$100,000 income bracket, adoption shifts toward specialty Asian dishes. Egg tart and Japanese Cheesecake are seeing some of the fastest trial growth in this bracket, while hot pot posts the steepest affinity gains.

Consumers earning more than $100,000 lead awareness growth for global and health-oriented foods. Impossible Foods tops this group’s awareness gains, growing 19.7 points to 69% overall in awareness, followed by ashwagandha, which 46% of consumers in this bracket now know. 

Not every trend follows that income ladder, though. Cold foam and Liquid Death, the canned water brand, rank among the fastest-growing terms in awareness across all four income brackets, while mushroom coffee and dirty soda rank among the fastest-growing in three of the four brackets, suggesting some trends carry momentum that cuts across household income entirely. 

The same holds for branded pantry and snack labels: Biscoff, Grillo’s Pickles, and Bob’s Red Mill are all gaining awareness at a similarly fast pace across the board, pointing to retail and social discovery reshaping how consumers first encounter new trends.