Food Matters Live Podcast · Food Matters Live

Food innovation trends for 2026 and beyond

·46 min·2 clips

Tesco, Danone, and Green King all describe different ways to turn trend data into shelf-ready products.

Anthony Zahra introduces the Food Matters Live podcast as a place for innovations, big ideas, and the people shaping the food industry. The episode was recorded live at the Food Matters Live event in Dublin in November 2025. The panel is framed as a look ahead to the trends defining 2026 and beyond. Zahra opens with a practical question about how businesses move from insight to execution. He asks what the path looks like from an emerging idea to something that can make it onto supermarket shelves. The speakers respond from different parts of the industry. Niamh Brannelly brings the Danone perspective on nutrition and scientific communication. Adam Townsley speaks from food and beverage development at Yosu. Ben Richardson-Hughes contributes a Green King view from food development. John Brennan adds a Tesco category lens from fresh foods. The conversation keeps circling back to a simple problem. How do you communicate clearly enough that consumers actually understand the product. The panel suggests that confusion can stop engagement before a product gets a chance. Adam Townsley argues that talkability matters in a Gen Z space. He says ideas need to be distilled into something people can repeat and share. He also notes that trends and hype do not last long. That means the product has to carry a simple, memorable story. He points to restaurant-led business as one place where this shows up quickly. Japanese and Korean food are cited as highly popular and widely discussed. The challenge is to bring back the appeal of regional foods without losing the details that make them distinctive. The panel treats that as a balancing act between authenticity and mass appeal. A bubble tea example shows how a trend that looks obvious online can still be difficult in its original form. The episode ends by reminding listeners that a product may be liked in theory but still need to be translated for broad uptake. Food innovation is shown here as a matter of evidence, language, and commercial fit. The closing thanks from the host underline the event setting and the breadth of the panel's expertise.

As heard by us

A practical look at how food trends move from hype to shelf.

Recorded live in Dublin at a Food Matters Live event, this panel follows how food trends move from social buzz to supermarket shelves, and why some ideas take hold while others fade away.

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Track how food trends move from social media hype to supermarket shelves.

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