By Julie Zagars and ROOT Marketing & PR
The first week of March, we prowled the aisles of Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, CA with 70,000+ of our closest friends, combing the 3,700+ booths for the hottest new products that will hit your grocer’s shelves about 9 months from now. Here’s your sneak peek of what’s to come in the natural and organic products world!
The natural and organic industry hit $342.1 billion in sales, according to New Hope’s Wednesday keynote session, with 72.3% driven explicitly through food and beverage (as opposed to dietary supplements and personal care). Natural and organic food sales are expected to grow by 24%, reaching $179 billion by 2029. At the Organic Night Out event, host Gary Hirshberg noted that organic products can be found in 82% of households. Organic products reached $76.6 billion in sales in 2025.
Protein + Fiber + …?
More than 60% of consumers are actively increasing their protein intake—up from 48% in 2019. We see that emphasis in Wandering Bear Mocha Latte with protein, Uncle Crumbles Granola in Strawberry Shortcake Protein, and Dave’s Killer Bread Amped-Up Organic Protein Bars in Double Chocolate Chunk, just a few of the many products helping consumers reach their protein goals. While many brands remain focused on maximizing protein, more forward-looking companies are turning to what’s next: fiber—now gaining traction in products like Fiber Flow’s probiotic beverage powders and Yumi’s Organic Mango + Kale Bar.
Smart brands are combining protein and fiber, calling out those attributes on their packages with offerings like Gutzy’s organic prebiotic gut health fruit smoothies in pouches, Kindling’s Protein Pretzels in honey mustard, and Hey! Hunger’s Superfood Tikka Veggie Patties in roasted beet and walnut.
REALLY smart brands take it a step further: wildbrine’s first-ever Fermented Chickpea Salad brings together protein, fiber, and probiotics in one convenient, minimally processed product—a category-defining launch that delivers all three benefits in a single, ready-to-eat dish.
Dressed Up Dates
The Joolies brand has been working for years to elevate dates as a premium product, with bright, fun packaging. The industry is catching on. This year, no fewer than three brands offered Sour Watermelon dates: Joolies and DADDL introduced dates coated in a crystalline sugary powder, like natural versions of Sour Patch Kids, while Candy Date from Smood Sweets created a convincing Skittles-competitor with a hard candy shell.
Kitchen & Love featured dates in their Sweet Nests, which are baklava bites. Freakin’ Wholesome created Thins with dates, almonds, and sea salt, dipped in dark chocolate; they also stuffed dates with roasted crunchy hazelnuts, cashews, and almonds or creamy nut butters. Sun Lovin’ Bites offered dates with sunbutter, in four varieties, as energy bites. (But it’s those Sour Watermelon Candy Dates that captured my attention!)
Better NA Choices
Ben Lerman, VP of brand growth consulting at SPINS, shared data that showed the beverage category is growing at a rate of 2% year over year. Modern sodas and functional beverages are outpacing this growth by two percentage points, thanks to a 16% dollar sales growth in drinks that promote digestive health, a 42% boost in mood support beverages, and a 15% increase in protein drinks.
Consumers choosing to forego alcoholic beverages still crave interesting social tonics—ordinary sodas won’t cut it, even modern options like Poppi. Elevated mocktails (Wild Tonic sparkling Jun mocktail in Honey Ruby Cosmo or Honey Ginger Mule), faux spirits (Plaid Citrus’s Orange Lush, Vespa Rossa, or Kimono Dragon), dealcoholized wines (Giesen’s New Zealand Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc), and functional beverages (Mood & Boochcraft’s Regenerative Hibiscus Lemonade; Recess’s Mood in Orange Vanilla, with magnesium and adaptogens; Polka Dot FX’s Connect social adaptogenic seltzer with cordyceps and reishi) are stepping up their game. Social Spritz by De Soi incorporates adaptogens for a lively lift, while Ringa’s Cucumber and Mint includes moringa and apple cider vinegar for what they bill as “sparkling holistic hydration” with zero added sugar.
Other products that don’t specifically call out themselves as non-alcoholic alternatives might still fit the bill, including Just Ice’s Watermelon Lime White Tea, 100 Pure Coconut Water in pineapple or watermelon, KOKO & Karma’s Collagen Coconut Water with Acai, or Q Mixers’ Peach Nectarine Refresher.
More Matcha
Matcha is now more widely accessible to consumers than ever before but apparently we haven’t hit the market saturation point just yet.
Brands continue to fuel that interest with ceremonial-grade products (g’r7’s powders), flavored matcha (Oatly’s Matcha Strawberry cartons), combos (Teeccino’s Miraculous Mushrooms matcha latte tea; Pressed Juicery’s Avocado Greens Wellness Smoothie with banana, avocado, and matcha), and convenience versions (smul’s new line of cans of Japanese matcha latte with oat milk, in flavors including vanilla and salted caramel pistachio; BUB LUV’s single serve bottles of matcha soy latte Bubble Tea, with jelly pearls). Will we next see matcha leap out of the teacup to appear as a featured flavor? Matchaful is on-track with Grain-Free Matcha Granola in original and vanilla spice flavors. Stay tuned for the popcorn brands to take notice.
Full Circle
Brands are not only rethinking the waste they generate but also finding creative ways to offset it—and smartly communicating those efforts to concerned consumers.
LiL BUCKS is a Certified Plastic Neutral Product, thanks to their relationship with rePurpose where they fund plastic recovery projects, and they include that call-out on their packaging. Waiakea advertises that its water is sold in bottles made from 100% post recycled oceanbound plastic. The Planet Oat Project supports water, land, and wildlife efforts. Giesen uses spinning cone technology, a form of distillation, to separate the alcohol from their wine, in creating their de-alcoholized beverage line. They further refine that alcohol into 93% ethanol, which is then used to fuel the boiler that powers the spinning cone, creating a closed loop of power.
Spotted on the Showroom Floor
Vaginas
Can a body part truly be trending? Companies are ditching the euphemisms and shouting about women’s physical health, creating bold booths with fun backgrounds for photos. See pH-D Feminine Health’s flowery reproductive system, the larger-than-life vulva at the Flex period cup booth, or the giant vagina arch at the OPositiv Health booth, which also included gyno chairs and stirrups for the guys to try.
Gamifying Sample Acquisition
Gone are the days of companies simply handing out samples to Expo West attendees as they walk by the booths. Now you’ll work for that mini product! Brands developed clever ways to increase the amount of time spent at their booth by rolling out claw machines (Open Water, Natalie’s, Lifeway), ring toss games (esw beauty), and their own branded versions of Plinko (Dude Wipes created “Stinko”) and the giant wheel from The Price Is Right (unironically at SPINS).
All meant more time for the sales team to share their product pitches with guests who were waiting in line and actively playing to win coveted, premium samples.
Interactive Booths
Clever brands also provided Instagram-ready moments, recognizing the chance to increase their reach virtually beyond the show floor, including Poppi’s hall of mirrors and pink lights, Simply Pop’s aura photos and readings, Organic Valley’s backyard swing where you could snap photos with Bluey and friends, Rudi’s coloring wall to celebrate their 50th anniversary, and the CHOOSE KIND neon photo booth from KIND bars.
Fruit-inspired Totes
It felt like a convergence of creative minds: the hottest tote bags at this year’s Expo West were all printed with fruits and veggies. The Only Bean edamame sling bag was one of the cutest (and hardest to win, via the custom video game that challenged many of us). The Wildwonder citrus slices felt fresh. The Just Ice watermelon totes were entirely covet-able and the Yumi strawberry-shaped bags were simply adorable. MNML, Simply Pop, Amara, and tosi were also on-trend and on-theme.
Great Gear
Poppi consistently shows up with covetable merch – that’s practically part of their company’s DNA. This year, we also were treated to cute fruit-printed socks from Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company, branded scrunchies from Planet Oat, and sun-protection sleeves from Nopalli cactus chips. At Early Morning Yoga, Liquid IV provided each attendee with a branded yoga mat, a substantial water bottle, and a bottle sling, which is perfect for hiking. I, for one, will be happy if I’m never again offered a foam koozie.
Brands are also recognizing the power of outfitting their booth team in creative gear: Just Ice and Natalie’s had great customized denim jackets, Pixie’s team rocked their glamourous rhinestone cowgirl getups, and Goodles deserved an award for their head-to-toe looks that included custom sneakers.
My Top Favorite Bites and Sips:
Frozen fruity pops! The Unicorn Twist frozen treat from JonnyPops was a joyous rainbow of color and a celebration of flavors: fruit punch, cherry, orange, lemon, green apple, and blue raspberry. GoodPop Fruit Sour Pops in Apple are sour candy coated frozen fruit pops with a crystalline coating reminiscent of Sour Patch Kids and perfectly pucker-y, tart flavor. They’re Non-GMO Project Verified, gluten free, and made without artificial dyes or sugar substitutes, despite their fun color, which actually comes from spirulina extract and turmeric.
Yelophant’s Taro Cheese Bun and Mozzarella Cheese Bun both had the stretchiest cheesy filling I’ve ever seen outside of an IG Reel.
VGAN Chocolate’s Crunchy Coffee Bean bar with 44% cocoa was a truly creamy vegan chocolate bar base with the delight of crunchy coffee bits.
Urban Pie’s cauliflower thin crust Margherita pizza distracted me by their gooey toppings, making it easy to overlook that it was a cauli crust. I’m looking forward to finding their spinach pizza at my local Sprouts.
Wilde, the chicken chip experts, are introducing a new gouda cracker that is what I always wanted a Cheez-It to be. I’ll be eagerly awaiting its arrival on store shelves in April.
Beautiful, colorful cans of hrbvor’s Focus herbal tea feature tulsi, guayusa, rosemary, sage and basil, with a touch of organic raw blue agave and inland sea minerals for superior hydration. I especially appreciate that they offer both sparkling and still varieties.
Hum Yum’s Chef’s Caramel was the indulgent, creamy, thick topping I’ll layer onto ice cream, brownies, profiteroles, and more.
Two summery watermelons: Watermelon Lime White Tea from Just Ice is their latest release and I think I’m in love with this perfectly balanced thirst quencher. It’s exclusive to Sprouts for a few more weeks then hopefully will become available more widely. My other favorite was the regenerative organic-certified cold pressed watermelon juice from Wild Oats – so refreshing! Cheers to brands supporting regen org agriculture!
The natural products industry keeps getting more exciting—and a little more crowded! From bold flavors and functional innovations to clever packaging and Instagram-worthy experiences, there’s always something new to discover. If you’d like to chat with our natural products industry marketing experts about how we can help your good food brand stand out with PR and social media, we’d love to hear from you
Photos and blog by Julie Zagars, natural products industry expert and co-founder of MBArk
