While customers in the US may visit c-stores for familiar, indulgent foods, that doesn’t mean convenience retailers can’t have a little fun and tempt diners with trendy flavors and unique combinations.
Spicy foods moving beyond hot honey, an increase in international flavors and a focus on protein and fiber are among the top trends c-stores can take advantage of this year.
Hot honey has been on a run for years, but heat in foods is evolving, Suzy Badaracco, president of foresight and trend intelligence firm Culinary Tides, said. Aleppo pepper, Urfa biber, guajillo, pasilla and fermented chili pastes are replacing “one-note sweet heat,” she noted.
Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores harnessed this trend with two new options to start the year. The Spicy Brunch Burger, which features American cheese, bacon, jalapeno egg, Southwest aioli and a hamburger patty; and the Spicy Sunrise Croissant, which features sausage, jalapeno egg, Southwest aioli and pepperjack.
“These flavors perform best when positioned as optional enhancements or limited-time offerings, allowing consumers to opt in while preserving familiar core items,” Bomkamp Des Jardins added.
While hot honey is not the top flavor for 2026, c-stores don’t need to abandon it entirely. It continues to sell well when it is used sparingly, paired with familiar comfort foods, and positioned as one of several flavor choices, instead of as the star, according to Badaracco.
The best applications for hot honey are chicken sandwiches and tenders, breakfast items, flatbreads and pizza, along with snackable sides such as wings, bites and fries.
C-store chains have taken on other spicy trends for 2026, like swokey, which is sweet and smokey.. Last fall, Weigel’s rolled out Knoxville Hot Dippin’ Chicken, which features “smoky heat and tangy kick,” the operator said. 7-Eleven launched a Jalapeño Ranch Chicken Taquito, which includes seasoned chicken, ranch dressing and jalapeños, as an LTO last summer.
C-stores could implement swokey flavors with smoky honey or maple on breakfast sandwiches, smoked paprika with brown sugar rubs on proteins, as well as sweet-smoky barbecue sauces in small portions, Badaracco said. These dishes feel hearty and satisfying without being heavy, she noted.
Swokey, and swicy flavor profiles, along with the closely related swalty and swangy — sweet and salty and sweet and tangy, respectively — work best when they enhance comfort, not overwhelm it, Badaracco said. As such, the innovation should live in the sauce or seasoning, not the core item.
Some of the best-selling bases to add such sauces to include wraps and handhelds, breakfast sandwiches, flatbreads, snack bowls and grain cups, according to Badaracco.
Read the full story at How c-stores are buying into this year’s top flavor trends | C-Store Dive
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