Vapes, pickles and TikTok Shop: Food & Drink Expo 2025’s top trends

The spectre of the June disposable device ban hangs even higher than the towering vaping brand stands at this year’s Food & Drink Expo. There is a palpable sense of unease that it could mark an end to the reign of some of the biggest names in the category.

But with the disposable debate now done and dusted, vaping players can focus fully on innovation.

The latest device from ElfBar’s sister brand Lost Mary has a wraparound digital display, and challenger player ZiipLab’s device allows nicotine pods to be stacked (think a multi-scoop ice cream) so users can combine flavours to make their own e-juice cocktails. The brand claims 125,000 flavour combinations are possible.

But the future of these brands might not be vaping at all. Many have introduced tobacco-free synthetic nicotine pouches – tiny and teabag-like and stuck on the gum. Lost Mary is cleverly branding its pouch ‘Airplane Mode’.

Innovation abounds here too. There’s chewable flavoured nicotine gum, lozenges and even ‘nicotine film’, which dissolves on the tongue for a near-instant buzz.

Innovation isn’t just limited to nicotine brands, either. Elsewhere in the show, dotted among the freeze-dried sweets (optimistically billing themselves as ‘the future of pic ‘n’ mix’), the canned coffee-to-go and the neon energy drinks is a new breed of snacking.

Functional foods meet virality

One of the newest buzzwords in grocery, M&S took the functional food trend mainstream at the start of the year. The retailer’s brain food range bought lion’s mane mushrooms to the masses – a blessing for many smaller brands that have been chipping away at that particular stone for some time. 

For snack brand Bardo, the move couldn’t have come at a better time. The snack-sized bags of superfood bites, made with seeds, dark chocolate and no added sugar or sweetners, are infused with powerful adaptogens that can improve mood, mental health and emotional wellbeing. (Lion’s mane and ashwaganda, in case you’re wondering). 

“Everything we do is driven by health,” founder Lilijan Sulejmanovic said, explaining that the nutrient-dense dark chocolate bites were also naturally rich in magesium, copper and omega-3. “But we really wanted to create a credible, functional food that’s easy to eat while on the go. Why should snacking be unhealthy?” 

Well, exactly. It’s a theme that runs throughout the show, with a number of health-focused challenger brands looking to be the next addition to the ‘snack’ part of the supermarket meal deal. Snack-sized packs of specialist cheeses, flavoured olives and probiotic yoghurt drops abound.

Ready-to-eat pickles fit nicely into this trend too, with the aisles awash in brine as British shoppers go pickle mad. One challenger brand found in the Future Foods section of the expo is Suckerpunch – a US-based brand that sells pre-cut pickle pouches and pickle juice hydration shots, and is targeting the recent viral moment pickles are having.

“As an importer, we’re always looking for new trends,” says Adrian Beale, CEO of Suckerpunch’s UK importer Buckley & Beale. “Nobody else was doing a convenient pouch with something trending, something that can go viral, something that there’s a really huge community for.”

Beale also points to the power of TikTok to meet consumer demand. “TikTok Shop is the perfect vehicle for us, because of the social media aspect and the fact that it can go viral.” He adds: “There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing something that other people are talking about and not being able to buy it.”

What’s driving the trend? Fermented foods tick the gut health box as more shoppers actively seek gut-friendly foods. And the premiumisation trend is in full swing with these NPD too as today’s pickle launches are artisanal, well-packaged and have gourmet price tags. Safe to say, pickles are shedding their dusty jars and rising up the social media food chain.

Walking the aisles of the NEC also made it pretty clear that – following the weather-related surge in prices back in 2023 – olive oil is having to work a hell of a lot harder to prove itself on shelf. Customers have been more sparing with their oil or switched to cheaper alternatives amid those soaring prices. It’s a market ripe for innovation to maintain the illusion of value.

In that spirit, Philotimo unveiled smaller bottles of organic extra virgin olive oil aimed at getting kids to drizzle the EVOO on salads and dip breads. The bottles are completely opaque, intended to maintain the quality of the oil for longer, but their white coating also provides a surface for children to draw on and make their own, complete with a box to fill in their name and a set of pens. Ideal for forcing parents to purchase multiple bottles for siblings.

Meanwhile, Terra Delyssa made sure few left the shows without a squeezy bottle of its Tunisian EVOO, which it says is the way chefs would use it.

We don’t know if British-Jamaican entrepreneur and celebrity chef Levi Roots drizzles his oil, but he certainly lived up to his larger-than-life reputation yesterday, regaling visitors to the Restaurant stage with tales of Brixton burglaries and his recent appearance on Celebrity Big Brother. 

Roots didn’t miss the opportunity to promote his latest launch – a duo of energy drinks made in partnership with Vimto owner Nichols – and gave out samples to the crowd in between being mobbed for photos. When asked what was next in the NPD pipeline, Roots hinted at the launch of a ginger beer, but stressed development on this had not yet commenced. 

In the meantime, fans can look forward to a film adaptation of Roots’ life story, which is set for release at the end of 2026. Apparently, the unnamed Hollywood actor set to play Roots recently visited Brixton for research purposes. Watch this space.