https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2l-rElCn28
Dubai chocolate, matcha lattes, and hot honey. These are just a few of the hottest trends from the last few years.
Dubai Chewy Cookie, pictured Jan. 24, 2026. (Credit: Emily Kim/XFM News)
Karen Cardona is experienced in those trends and many more. She’s the CEO of True Leaves Consulting.
True Leaves helps other businesses create new food and drinks. Everything from the concept to the prototyping to the formula.
“We need to know what the trends are. So that way when we’re deciding which flavours to do, we’re coming from a place of understanding what people want,” said Cardona.
She explained that innovation is very flexible in the Canadian food and beverage market today.
“The Canadian market is so cool because we have such an open space of culture. We have such a melting pot of different people from different countries. It’s a special place to innovate because of that.”
True Leaves Consulting CEO Karen Cardona, pictured Jan. 22, 2026. (Credit: Emily Kim/XFM News)
The creation and evolution of social media platforms have introduced many new flavours to Canadians.
“Things move around so quickly now. What used to take a little bit longer to get to us is now happening at the same time. We are able to pick up on trends globally just from the ability to see things online,” said Cardona.
“One of the biggest challenges with overseas trends is just getting that raw material here. People are now more willing to try new things. When a post goes viral on TikTok or on Instagram, people just want to try it,” she added.
These platforms affect businesses and their decisions just as much as they affect consumers.
Fanshawe College’s Garrett Gaudet explained exactly that. He coordinates the ‘Business and Entrepreneurship Management’ program at the college.
Fanshawe College’s Business and Entrepreneurship Management Coordinator Garrett Gaudet, pictured Jan. 26, 2026. (Credit: Emily Kim/XFM News)
“With different marketing strategies, we can kind of identify where you’re seeing numbers or statistics or insights on those platforms like Instagram, Facebook or TikTok to see who’s watching or consuming your content. […] to see that small sample size can make a big difference,” Gaudet said.
Looking ahead, Cardona has a few insights into where the industry is going. She mentioned that sustainability and health benefits will only grow in importance for consumers, and have already gotten pretty big.
“Circularity is a huge trend. That’s using wasted ingredients. With beer, for example, they have spent grain that is usually just tossed. Now they’re going to try to use this type of ingredient for different things, and we already see people using it for baked goods,” said Cardona.
Social media helps push these fads even further. Influencers can and have pushed new products to their viewer bases, who trust their judgment and go out to try it themselves.
“We saw brands like Poppi come out of nowhere. It’s a soda with a prebiotic fibre effect. As we have an aging population, people are going to be looking for that added benefit from their food, whether it’s extra vitamins or minerals,” added Cardona.
Listen to the rest of the interview with Cardona and Gaudet through the ALMOST 107 podcast. Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify or wherever else podcasts are available.
