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Top 5 U.S. Food Trends This Month: from Drink-First QSR to Big Mac Smash Tacos

Wild Bite Club| |

Welcome to our monthly roundup of the hottest food trends from the U.S.! Each month, we analyze what’s moving the American food scene right now—from viral social media phenomena to popular Google search terms, and the topics generating buzz across food blogs and platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest.

This compilation presents the five most relevant trends from the last 30 days that have their origin in North America. These include both completely new culinary developments that are just going viral, as well as seasonal classics and recurring food topics that see particularly strong demand at certain times of the year and capture people’s interest.

The ranking is based on Trend Score—a metric that considers various factors such as Reach, Novelty, Longevity, and Market Impact. This creates a meaningful picture of which food trends are truly important right now and shaping American food culture. The score also allows us to consistently compare trends month over month and track their evolution.

  1. Drink-First QSR (Score: 44)
    Signal: high novelty + strong market impact
    QSR erschließt neue Visits über Getränke: Refreshers, Café-Add-ons, Seasonal Drinks und starke Customization. Konsument:innen kommen “nur fürs Getränk”—höhere Marge, mehr Frequenz.
  2. Nutella Rice (Score: 42)
    Signal: ranked by Trend Score
    Nutella Rice is a quick dessert hack where hot, freshly cooked rice is mixed with Nutella until it turns glossy and creamy. The appeal is the contrast of warm, starchy comfort with a rich chocolate-hazelnut melt—easy to upgrade with banana slices, berries, toasted nuts, or crunchy cereal on top. It’s a low-effort,…
  3. Signal: high novelty + strong market impact
    Iced Coffee wird über Textur monetarisiert: Cold foam, Cream-Layers, chewy Add-ons und “dessert-like” Mouthfeel. Customization treibt Upsell, Social-Sharing und Premium-Preise in Ketten und RTD.
  4. Signal: high novelty + strong market impact
    Sweet-meets-salty dessert chips are back as winter limited editions: salted caramel potato chips, cocoa-dusted corn snacks, and chocolate-caramel popcorn. Brands borrow bakery flavors to make snack aisles feel seasonal, indulgent, and giftable.
  5. Signal: high novelty + strong market impact
    Smash-burger beef pressed onto tortillas gets topped with Big Mac-style fixings for a fast-food taco hybrid.

Now for what’s truly new: the following five trends have the highest Novelty scores in the last 30 days. They highlight the freshest ideas and emerging topics gaining attention right now.

  1. Nutella Rice (Novelty: 16)
  2. Drink-First QSR (Novelty: 14)
  3. Textured Iced Coffee (Novelty: 13)
  4. Dessert Chips & Sweet-Salty (Novelty: 11)
  5. Kitchen Live Streams (Novelty: 9)
Want to go deeper? Subscribe to the Wild Bite Club newsletter for regular updates, or explore the full dashboard on Trend Watch.