Thanksgiving 2025: Food & Drink Trends
In the coming years, Thanksgiving feasts will evolve to meet shifting consumer needs. In this 2025 forecast, we outline opportunities across categories including meals, drinks, sauces and condiments, bakery, desserts and packaging.
Opportunity
According to a 2023 survey by Statista, Thanksgiving is as popular as Christmas (79% vs 78%) among US consumers. As celebrations widen beyond family circles, the Holiday will feel more casual while reflecting consumers’ multicultural identities and increasingly global tastes.
Although half of young Canadians celebrating Thanksgiving stuck to the classics in 2023, 35% plan to combine traditional and unique recipes in the years ahead (Butterball, 2023).
Friendsgiving - spending Thanksgiving with friends - is on the rise, with the share of Americans who spend Thanksgiving only with their immediate family dropping to 31% compared to almost half in 2020.
Below, we outline three of the five Thanksgiving food and drink opportunities from our Thanksgiving 2025 Forecast.
Fantastic fusions
Satisfy demand for unique and adventurous dishes that add novelty to the Thanksgiving table.
As called out in our Food Forecast, heightened creativity will prompt unlikely flavour pairings and cuisine fusions as consumers cheer on experimentation.
Innovators will keep using lesser-known dishes, flavours and ingredients from Southeast Asia’s diverse regional cuisines, like the Filipino ube, calamansi and pandan.
Food and drink brands can appeal to consumers seeking multidimensional heat experiences via sweet, sour, umami and creamy pairings that add depth to dishes
Host gifts
Make the meal part of the aesthetic with gifts that double as decorative centrepieces and potluck contributions.
As forecasted by WGSN, food and drinks that work as decorative centrepieces for dinner parties will rise in popularity.
Look to giftable and edible table accessories like vegetable-based bouquets for Thanksgiving. Offer packaging Glimmers - tiny moments of joy - that upgrade everyday products for special occasions.
Plant-forward & holistic
Create Thanksgiving food and drinks that are better for you, people and the planet.
In 2023, Americans wasted nearly 312 million pounds of food on Thanksgiving. Keep exploring upcycled food and drink solutions.
Use climate-hero ingredients, like Fava beans, to support consumers’ wellbeing and environmental concerns. Make the Thanksgiving meal more inclusive through creative dishes that make use of versatile mushrooms.
For more Thanksgiving Food & Drink opportunities for 2025, subscribers can log in and read the new WGSN Thanksgiving forecast. To become a WGSN client, request a complimentary demo here.