Staying ahead of food trends is crucial for businesses looking to connect with customers and align their products with what’s hot in the market.
When I am making business presentations, doing category reviews, or looking ahead for content ideas, identifying what is popular (or trending) is incredibly valuable. Don’t believe me? Go into your grocery store and ask one of the department managers if a customer has ever brought their phone to them asking for a specific brand, product, or recipe ingredient. You’ll be surprised.
Whether you’re a food blogger, marketer, or part of a sales team, leveraging social media platforms and trend-spotting tools can help you identify new opportunities… both for product development and for creative. Here is an example of a viral post about eggs…
Now, if I were an egg company, I would recreate a post jump like this AND make three-to-four other variations on this post. Maybe it’s egg toppings, or avocado toast with different egg combinations, or hard boiled egg cooking temperatures and times in the air fryer.
See how one piece of content could expand into multiple?
Below are some of the best resources for finding food trends on social media, along with how you can use them to support your goals.
Trending Food Topics:
1. Google Trends
Google Trends is a powerful, free tool that allows you to see how popular a search term is relative to the total number of Google searches.
- Why It’s Useful: You can discover when a specific recipe or food term peaks in popularity, helping you plan timely content or product launches. For instance, searches for “pumpkin spice” skyrocket every fall, offering a window for seasonal product promotions.
- How to Use It: Search for keywords like “low-carb recipes” or “plant-based snacks” and analyze the trends over time. Share this data with your sales team to highlight seasonal or evergreen opportunities that resonate with customers.
2. Pinterest Trends
Pinterest is a hub for foodies seeking inspiration, and its Pinterest Trends tool provides insight into what’s currently popular on the platform.
- Why It’s Useful: Pinterest users actively search for recipes and meal ideas, making it a goldmine for understanding not only which recipes are trending but also what imagery performs best.
- How to Use It: Look for trending searches under categories like “healthy meal prep” or “quick dinners.” Share these insights with your team, so they can pitch new product displays or recipes aligned with Pinterest’s audience interests.
3. Exploding Topics
Exploding Topics is a relatively new tool that helps identify trends that are gaining rapid traction. This can be especially useful for spotting food trends before they become mainstream.
- Why It’s Useful: The tool categorizes trends as Regular, Peaked, or Exploding, helping you determine whether a trend is worth pursuing now or better to monitor.
- How to Use It: Browse the Food Trends section and note terms marked as “Exploding.” For example, if “miso caramel” is trending, you can align product offerings, create new recipes, or pitch related ideas to your customers before the trend saturates the market.
4. Facebook Ads Library
Facebook’s Ads Library is an underrated resource for tracking innovative campaigns and understanding what’s resonating with audiences.
- Why It’s Useful: Top-performing ads give insights into not just food trends but also how leading brands are marketing their products, offering inspiration for your own strategies.
- How to Use It: Search for food brands in the library to see their active campaigns. Note recurring themes, product highlights, or creative ideas that you can adapt for your own marketing or share with customers.
5. Native Social Media Explore Feeds
Each social media platform (Instagram, TikTok, etc.) has an Explore or trending section that shows what’s popular with users.
- Why It’s Useful: These feeds are tailored to what’s resonating most with your audience or audiences adjacent to yours, offering highly relevant trend insights.
- How to Use It: Spend time on Instagram Explore, Twitter trending topics, or TikTok’s Discover page. Look for food hashtags or trending challenges that align with your brand or customers’ interests. For example, if “sheet pan dinners” are trending, this could inspire a pitch for a new product lineup.
6. TikTok Creative Center
TikTok is the go-to platform for discovering viral trends, and the TikTok Creative Center is an invaluable tool for finding what’s working in both organic and paid content.
- Why It’s Useful: TikTok trends often translate into broader cultural shifts, and the platform highlights trending hashtags, songs, and ad formats in real time.
- How to Use It: Visit the TikTok Creative Center to browse UGC (User-Generated Content) trends and top-performing product ads. For example, if a certain cooking hack or recipe style is blowing up, it’s a good signal to explore creating content or products around it.
7. Social Listening Tools
In addition to these platforms, consider using social listening tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or Brandwatch to monitor mentions of food trends across social media.
- Why It’s Useful: These tools allow you to track specific keywords, hashtags, or competitor mentions, giving you real-time insights into emerging conversations.
- How to Use It: Set up alerts for terms like “vegan snacks,” “comfort food,” or “low-waste cooking” to stay ahead of consumer interest.
Why Food Trends Matter for Sales Teams
By identifying food trends early, your sales team can use them as conversation starters with customers. For example, if “healthier holiday baking” is trending, they can pitch products that align with this theme—like best fruits for baking, sugar substitutes, alternative flours, or baking tools.
Trends provide cultural context to how real people are using your products, making it easier to position products and programs as enhancements or solutions for retailers.
Final Thoughts
Food trends on social media are dynamic and fast-moving, but with the right tools, you can stay ahead of the curve and respond quickly.
Whether you’re using Google Trends to time your campaigns, Pinterest Trends to align your visuals, or TikTok Creative Center to tap into viral moments, the key is to monitor these resources consistently and adapt quickly.
By leveraging these platforms, your sales and marketing team can not only create talking points but also position your products as solutions for retailers eager to ride the wave of what’s trending.
It’s about being proactive, innovative, and customer-focused—and these tools are your cheat sheet for doing just that.
