KANSAS CITY — The 2025 Winter Fancy Food Show saw more than 12,000 attendees and over 400 new product exhibits from global and domestic specialty food and beverage makers.
The annual event from the Specialty Food Association was held Jan. 19-21 in Las Vegas.
The growing role of snacking was highlighted among the new product exhibitors, reinforcing the SFA’s prediction that innovative snacks would be trending in 2025 due to desire for convenience and altered lifestyles in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Certainly, in part of the world, GLP-1 shots have created a situation where people on (the drugs) are forced to snack because they cannot have full meals,” said Leana Salamah, senior vice president of marketing and communications for the SFA. “And scheduling challenges within a family make it very difficult for a traditional three-meal-a-day structure.”
Such snacking innovations at the show included a line of crunchy salmon fish bites from Næra Snacks, for instance. The product blends a unique texture experience with flavors like wasabi, jalapeño and ranch to deliver more than 1 gram of omega-3 fatty acids and 13 grams of protein per serving.