While customers 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.
Not all of 2026’s hottest picks may work — unusual options like “forest pine” may be harder to integrate— but there are plenty of popular flavors that can work with c-stores’ menus.
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.
Spicy and “swicy” expand beyond hot honey
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.
Profiles that combine sweet and savory with spicy flavors fit especially well within existing c-store formats, according to Samantha Bomkamp Des Jardins, content marketing manager at Datassential. Options like chili-lime seasoning, buffalo-style sauces, jalapeño heat and globally inspired but accessible sauces can be introduced as drizzles, toppings, or condiments without adding labor or complexity.
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.
Badarraco says c-store operators could implement the “swicy” — a portmanteau of sweet and spicy — trend via chili-maple or chili-date sauces, adding sweet chili and citrus to wraps and developing spicy fruit beverages, like mango-chili or pineapple-pepper. These can work because they have “familiar excitement, but must feel more layered” in 2026, Badarraco 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.
Swinging into other sweet options
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.
Other ways to incorporate swalty flavors are maple and sea salt on breakfast sandwiches, honey-salted nut toppings on yogurt bowls, salted caramel protein shakes and brown butter and salted grain snacks.
The swangy flavor profile, which is growing quickly because it feels refreshing and lighter, sells in wraps and bowls, snackable sides and beverages, according to Bardaracco. C-store operators can capitalize with items like citrus-tahini sauces on chicken or grain bowls and pickled vegetables with lightly sweet glazes.
Other top flavor trends to watch
With flavor trends in 2026 shifting away from sweet-heavy profiles toward savory, sour, smoky and herbal notes As a result, ingredients such as pistachio, tahini, brown butter, cultured dairy, miso, black sesame, and olive oil are becoming core indulgence flavors, according to Badaracco.
Sour and acidic notes are rising sharply, including sumac, verjus, calamansi, yuzu, green mango, and plum vinegar. Herbal and green flavors such as pandan, shiso, lemongrass, dill, and juniper are also moving into both savory foods and beverages, according to Culinary Tides.
Meanwhile, 63% of consumers are interested in trying lemon pepper, 49% want to try Peruvian black mint, and 58% of consumers are interested in trying the “superfruit” camu camu, per Datassential. Additionally, 25% want to try ube, a purple yam native to Southeast Asia.
