Attendees take in the Southern California coastal setting while enjoying trend-forward bites and sips like American Egg Board’s Salted Egg Yolk Butter Chicken Fritter and Honey-Tamarind Crème Brûlée with Dr Pepper Sugar (top right) and Vibrant Beverage’s modern take on a gin fizz with hibiscus and Perfect Purée soursop purée (bottom center).

Photos courtesy of Katie Kelley

Flavor Experience 2026

A look at the flavors, ideas and insights moving menus forward

By Flavor & The Menu
August 26, 2026

What deserves a place on tomorrow’s menu? That question took center stage at the 2026 Flavor Experience, as high-volume menu developers gathered in Newport Beach, Calif., for three days of discovery, discussion and, of course, plenty of trend-forward tastes. At a moment when chain operators are navigating rapidly shifting consumer behaviors, economic pressures, wellness priorities, social-media influences and new technologies, this year’s event offered something particularly valuable: perspective.

Presented by Flavor & The Menu, the 22nd annual Flavor Experience explored not only what’s next, but how to make sense of it. Industry experts delved into the most promising flavor trends and menu opportunities ahead, alongside the consumer behaviors and shifting expectations impacting foodservice. From evolving definitions of value and wellness to the ever-growing influence of technology and social media, the content offered a wide-angle view of the forces shaping what’s next on the menu.

Yet amid all of that complexity, the simplest truth of the event remained firmly intact: Flavor creates connection. It showed up in the dishes and drinks served throughout the event, in conversations around texture, storytelling and culinary craft, and in the exchange of ideas among chefs, marketers, suppliers and other industry innovators. More than two decades in, Flavor Experience continues to pair forward-looking thinking with the kind of shared discovery that can spark the next great menu idea.

Read on for highlights from this year’s Flavor Experience.