Wait, before you automatically click “Essential Cookies” please read...
.svg "Keylink Limited"){kind=logo}
How to Spot Trends in Bakery & Confectionery Using AI
Using AI to Spot Trends in Bakery & Confectionery
Trends come and go at lightning speed, it can be difficult to keep up, let alone identify the ones with staying power. When you’re busy with the day to day running of your business, taking time out to do your own market research can feel like a waste of time – especially in December!
But what if we told you it doesn’t have to take you hours of scrolling or pounding the pavement to discover the latest, up-and-coming trends in chocolate and bakery?
Keep reading to find out how AI can help you spot trends before they take off, giving you the chance to launch new products ahead of your competitors and attract social media savvy customers and get your brand noticed…
by Lyndsey Hall
17 February 2026
What is a Trend, and Why Should You Care?
Unless you spent the last two years with your head in a tempering machine, you probably heard about the Dubai pistachio chocolate trend. A combination of flavours and textures that went viral on TikTok, and spawned hundreds of variations throughout 2024 and 2025, including chocolate bars, bonbons, ice creams, cakes, desserts, and even strawberry cups. If you offered a Dubai-inspired treat, it was bound to fly out as customers scrambled to try every iteration and get their nutty pistachio, crispy kadaif and creamy chocolate fix.
Trends emerge for a variety of reasons; there is usually no one singular influence that results in a huge trend, but a combination of factors. Take the Dubai bar for example, at the recent Callebaut Chocolatier’s Day event, world-leading trend forecasting agency WGSN explained what led to the explosion in popularity, and how it could be seen coming by those in the know. A rise in demand for sweet treats with global influences, experimental flavours and unexpected texture combinations coincided with a bumper pistachio crop – and the rest is history!
The Dubai trend has now begun to tail off, and will be replaced by the next new craze in 2026. We’ve got a few ideas of what that could be, which we’ll share below…
Trends aren’t just about jumping on a band wagon, they’re about acknowledging a cultural moment, and if you don’t anticipate or even participate in the trend then you’re at risk of being left behind. Customer loyalty is incredibly rare and valuable these days, especially since the pandemic years when it became commonplace to order online and get deliveries to your door. A world of options for buying sweet treats opened up, and your high street shop is now competing with a huge number of businesses around the country instead of one or two local shops and cafes.
Looks Aren’t Everything (But They Are Important!)
Today’s consumers aren’t only eating your creations, they’re photographing them, videoing them, sharing and posting about them. Visual impact has become a purchase driver; a study by Barclaycard Payments found that consumers were willing to spend up to £30 more on a restaurant that looks good on social media. Customers need a good reason to travel to your bakery or chocolate shop nowadays, and if you can give them one then it could potentially be lucrative.
Social media natives are more likely to find your independent bakery or artisan chocolate shop from a viral social media post than by walking past your bricks and mortar store. With Gen Z on track to become the wealthiest generation in history, and their disposable income already well into the billions, they’re not a demographic you want to miss out on with your marketing strategy.
So, trends are no longer something you can afford to ignore. But how can you predict upcoming trends and develop new, customer-relevant products to ensure you’re ahead of the competition?
How To: Trendspotting for Bakers & Chocolatiers
Identifying and anticipating trends is essential to succeeding with them, as once they’re in the mainstream they’ve often hit their peak and are beginning to decline. If you wait until your competitors have all jumped on the trend train, you’re already playing catch-up instead of standing out as an early adopter (or even a trendsetter!).
Getting ahead of the game doesn’t have to be intimidating, there are a few top tips and tools for trendspotting that you can use to your advantage:
- Trend Reports
- Social Media
- Competitor Research (AKA Taste Testing!)
- AI
Trend Reports:-
Trend reports are based on real customer data and give an indication of where consumer interests are shifting. You can often find these free of charge online, or you can invest in a report from a reputable company, like Mintel.
Compile as many reports from different sources as possible and identify where the contents overlap to build your list of potential trends. Then compare against your own customer data and choose your top three trends to focus on. It doesn’t have to mean tearing up your usual menu; a limited-edition range is a great way to test your customers’ appetite for a trending flavour.
Social Media:-
Scrolling social platforms doesn’t always have to be wasted time; it could be valuable market research! Instagram and TikTok are a gold mine of competitor content, customer comments and trending hashtags. Dedicate an hour each week to browsing your favourite accounts, the top hashtags in your industry, and a handful of key competitors, and make notes on anything you spot that could hint at a growing trend.
And don’t skip the comment section! Some of the most valuable insights can be hidden among the emojis.
Competitor Research:-
Plan a day out every couple of months to visit your competitors’ shops and cafes and see what they’re selling. Try as many different products as you can, jot down what you liked and didn’t like about them, and watch the other customers to see what they’re buying and enjoying.
Make it a fun team building activity or a way to on board new staff and get them into the mindset for spotting trends out in the wild. Your team could be your best source of information when it comes to anticipating what’s going to be the next big thing!
AI:-
You’ve asked it to write your product copy and emails, maybe even to analyse a report or build a spreadsheet. But did you know, AI can help you spot trends in your industry and generate ideas for new products that will appeal to your customers? Your competitors are already using it, so don’t be shy, ask your preferred tool (we like ChatGPT for the ability to create custom GPTs) to analyse all of your gathered data, and anything it can find online (you may want to train it with some relevant website URLs as guidance, at least to begin with). Then ask it to identify any trends that appear to be on the rise, and even suggest ways in which you could embrace them with a new recipe or tweak to your existing range.
AI can speed up the innovation process, but it is still a robot at the end of the day, so use your own knowledge and experience to filter out any wild and wonderful suggestions and whittle the list down to two or three flavour combinations worth trialling. Test these on your team, and then launch a limited edition for your customers to try. If your new product really takes off, you could even add it to your core product range!
Keeping on top of the trends might feel intimidating and overwhelming at first glance, but it really just means anticipating your customers’ changing needs and making their experience with you memorable and enjoyable. You can use trends to your advantage by tweaking your usual recipes and creating exclusive, limited ranges to embrace new flavours without committing to large volumes of new ingredients, or risking the tide turning on the trend just when you’ve made a big order of products.
In our next blog, we’ll take a look at the trends we are expecting to see big things from in 2026, keep an eye out in the New Year! And in the meantime, use all the tools at your disposal to gather information and plan your trend-led product launches, and don’t forget to tag us on social media when you launch a new product!
Lyndsey is a marketing executive, writer and lover of books and chocolate from Sheffield.
Her favourite bake is a gooey chocolate brownie.
