Whole Foods has released its food and drink trend predictions for 2027, putting a dated forecast in front of operators who plan menus and sourcing commitments one to two years ahead.

The announcement, reported by the Sacramento Bee, names the grocer's expectations for what will shape consumer purchases in 2027. The forecast follows the format Whole Foods has used in prior years: a committee of the company's foragers and buyers filters product movement, supplier pipelines and category data into a shortlist of trends the retailer expects to cross from niche to mainstream.

What does this change for restaurants and foodservice buyers? A grocer-level forecast matters because Whole Foods sits at the front edge of retail food adoption. Items that perform in its produce, beverage and packaged categories routinely migrate onto independent restaurant menus and, later, into limited-time offers at larger chains. A 2027 label means suppliers are already positioning inventory, and operators who source early can price a trend before it saturates.

For menu engineers, the practical use is timing. A trend forecast published now gives kitchens roughly a full menu-planning cycle to test ingredients in specials, negotiate volume pricing with distributors and decide whether a category deserves a permanent slot or a seasonal rotation. Pricing follows the same curve: early adoption supports premium checks, while late entry competes against commoditized supply.

The full list of named trends, and the specific categories Whole Foods expects to accelerate, appears in the Sacramento Bee's report. Operators tracking beverage and packaged-good categories will find the most direct read-across, since those lines move between grocery shelves and restaurant menus fastest.

Watch how quickly the named items appear in distributor catalogs over the next two quarters; that lag between forecast and wholesale availability typically sets the real window for menu positioning ahead of 2027.