Trends

Chocolate milk has been a popular treat with consumers across generations. In recent years, however, brands have been thinking outside of the box (or carton) and have developed a suite of innovative new products with an unexpected selection of flavors. There is constant competition within the food and beverage industry to offer the most interesting and novel new releases, and flavored milk products give dairy companies a chance to compete with adventurous brands outside of their own category as well as remind consumers that they are capable of offering more than the milk that they’ve grown up with.

Nestle Skips the Cereal with “Cinnamilk™”

To many consumers, the best part of a bowl of cereal is the milk that’s left at the end. Nestle just announced that fans can now skip the middleman and purchase this flavored milk directly with a new bottled beverage, Cinnamon Toast Crunch™ Cinnamilk™. From sweet morning coffees to epic baked desserts, we can think of many applications for this kind of exciting new product.

Birthday Cake Milk Lets Consumers Taste the Celebration

Turner Dairy Farms®  turned 90 this year, and the company decided to let their customers celebrate with them with birthday cake-flavored milk. Not only is this milk loaded up with sweet cake flavor, it also has a fun blue color that is sure to delight kids that may have had their own birthday parties derailed this year.

Borden™ Brings the State Fair to the Dairy Aisle

State fairs are a summer tradition for many southern consumers, and Borden™ knew that they would be disappointed to miss out on the delicious treats that they look forward to all year. So, the company brought some of the most iconic state fair staples to the dairy aisle with a limited-edition line of flavored milk. Available in banana taffy, cotton candy, and caramel popcorn flavors, this line could be purchased from late summer until mid-October at retailers across Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ohio.

Even Non-Dairy Milks Get in on the Trend

Fruit flavors are a natural choice for plant-based dairy brands, since consumers already think of fruit as being a great pairing for common ingredients like almonds, oats, and coconuts. For example, non-dairy “bananamilk” producer Banana Wave® released a new mango flavored milk in August, bringing two tropical fruits together for one sweet and creamy beverage.

As consumers look for more interesting takes on their favorite products, it makes sense that flavored milk would make such a splash in 2020. So far these types of products have been branded as indulgent and sugary – more of a dessert beverage than something for every day, especially since many of these new rollouts have been limited releases. If this trend is going to continue to grow, we will probably see the category expand soon to include products that can make health benefit claims and that contain less additive sugar. For now, however, consumers are enjoying this opportunity to rediscover a refrigerator staple that they may have taken for granted.