‘Swicy’ treats are heating up as the summer’s surprising big food trend: ‘This isn’t a fad’

Swice up your life.

“Swicy” — a mashup of sweet and spicy — is this summer’s blazing new food trend, with brands scrambling to make their way into the movement, perhaps a surprising one for hot-weather days

“The spicy trend is here to stay,” Sally Lyons Wyatt, packaged goods and foodservice industry adviser with market research firm Circana, told CNN.

“I think we are going to see a lot more of this,” she added. “There is a push now and we do see both unit and dollar growth of spicy and ‘swicy’ products.”

Starbucks is just one of many coming in hot with new menu items, introducing three new Spicy Lemonade Refreshers beverages in April — which the company said was “inspired by the ‘swicy’ trend, which combines sweet and spicy flavors in all sorts of creative ways.”

The coffee chain also spiced things up with wildflower honey-infused with premium chili peppers in their Starbucks Reserve Roasteries and select stores in Chicago, New York City and Seattle, adding the Hot Honey Affogato and Hot Honey Espresso Martini to the menu.

In February, Coca-Cola released a “spiced” variation of its original recipe — a result of growing interest in spice.

“If you go to the aisles, you’ll see the amount of spiciness has gone up because consumers’ taste palates have evolved. We realized that could be an opportunity for us,” Coca-Cola’s North America marketing chief, Shakir Moin, told the Associated Press at the time.

Lyons Wyatt said that younger millennials, Gen Zers and Gen Alpha are the cohorts seeking out spice, and Circana found that 11% of 25-to-34-year-olds enjoy bold flavors — up 7 percentage points from 2019.

This is partly due to growing diversity in America and a wider range of ingredients being introduced, Jennifer Creevy, director of food and drink at trend forecasting and analytics firm WGSN, told CNN.

“Take the rise of K-drama and K-pop, as an example. Fans of this entertainment want to consume the media but also want to taste the flavors of Korea, hence the rise of spicy Gochujang, which is now in everything from dishes to snacks, drinks and desserts,” she said.

In addition, according to Varchasvi Singh, food service analyst with Mintel, the stereotype that American palates are “bland” is a misconception, and this trend proves it.

“There certainly is an expanded appetite for spicy foods and flavors, one that is driven by wanting to explore unfamiliar ingredients and cuisines,” Singh told CNN. “This enthusiasm isn’t a fad, it is here to stay.”

Lyons Watt said that consumers can expect to see more spice in all aisles of the grocery store: frozen foods, drinks, ice cream, chips and so on.

“My whole motto for a couple of years has been, ‘The hotter the better,’ because consumers gravitate to it. Traditionally it was younger consumers that were driving this, but now we’ve seen bold flavors being embraced by most age groups, but the dominant are still younger consumers,” she shared.