Food Business News has published its annual look ahead, naming the top five consumer trends it expects to shape food and beverage purchasing in 2026. The trade publication releases the forecast each year as food manufacturers, restaurant chains and grocery operators build their product pipelines and menu roadmaps for the following cycle. Its trend calls typically influence how suppliers position new items and how operators decide which flavors, formats and claims earn space on limited-time-offer calendars. Food Business News has not yet circulated the full text of the 2026 list through its syndicated feed, which carried only the headline at the time of this report. The Pass Brief will track the piece as it distributes and will report the specific trends, along with any data on consumer spending, category growth or operator adoption the publication attaches to them. What operators will be watching for is whether the 2026 list leans toward health-positioned claims, value-driven formats or indulgence-led indulgences — the three poles that have dominated trade forecasting since inflation reshaped check averages and dining frequency. Trend lists of this kind carry commercial weight because they filter directly into menu engineering: an item flagged as a coming trend is more likely to win development funding, supplier sampling programs and limited-time-offer slots at chain scale. The forecast's arrival also marks the start of the annual prediction season, in which market research firms, flavor houses and menu-analytics companies publish competing outlooks. Operators typically triangulate among several of these reports before committing to sourcing contracts and marketing plans for the following year. Once the full Food Business News report is available, The Pass Brief will break down each of the five trends and what they imply for cost of goods, menu pricing and procurement timing.