Ice cream has been a treasured American treat for nearly two centuries, but like everything, change is inevitable. In fact, it’s necessary for restaurant brands to stay innovative in a world where how a dish photographs is as important as how it tastes. The plethora of viral social media content featuring massive or unique confections proves that there is always something new and exciting in dessert trends.
Savory flavors have influenced the dessert space for more than a decade—what started with incorporating ingredients such as pretzels and bacon into sweet treats has turned into adding heat, balsamic, herbs, and flavor profiles typically reserved for main courses. Many of these savory food trends won’t reach the mainstream, but spicy and sweet has staying power that is showing up across food, beverage, and desserts.
“Today’s consumers are more willing than ever to try new trends and unique flavors in their desserts and there is no ‘hotter’ foodie trend than sweet and spicy,” says Jana Schneider, vice president of national programs at Kahala Brands, the parent company of Cold Stone Creamery. “When reviewing flavors for our 2024 calendar we tasted hundreds of possibilities and we all agreed that we had to include hot honey ice cream this year—and that we had to work with America’s #1 hot honey brand, Mike’s Hot Honey.”
Cold Stone and Mike’s worked together to create an ice cream flavor that would live up to the quality fans of both brands expect. The partnership—which was available nationwide from January 10 to February 20—paired Cold Stone’s smooth, creamy super-premium ice cream with brownie, pecans, and Mike’s 100% pure honey infused with real chili peppers. The result? A complex flavor dubbed ‘For the Love of Hot Honey’ that took consumers’ taste buds on an adventure.
The more creative chefs are, the more consumers expect—especially when it comes to LTOs. Unfortunately, some brands advertise an exciting LTO experience but fall short on taste. Ultimately, a dish must be successful on several fronts: buzzworthy, unique in a “camera-ready” way, and satisfying in terms of quality and taste.
“We want our LTO flavors to create a mouth-watering buzz and intrigue our guests, but they must be absolutely delicious to earn a place in our promotional calendar,” Schneider says. “Our Mike’s Hot Honey Ice Cream could not have been a better example of that; hot honey is an exciting flavor that may not be mainstream yet, but is up-and-coming in the dessert space.”
Like their main course counterparts, quick-serve dessert brands must be creative in their LTO offerings. Innovative flavors not only pique diners’ curiosities, they can encourage visit frequency.
“In 2024 we expect to see trends emerging in the buckets of nostalgic flavors, unique fruit flavors, international flavors, and typically savory combinations like our Mike’s Hot Honey flavor,” Schneider says. “Our strategy is to delight our customers with unique new flavors while continuing to offer the classic flavors they love.”
Mike’s Hot Honey is available through foodservice distributors nationwide and DOT Foods. Visit the website for more info.
By Davina van Buren
