Get to Know OV: Turning Trends Into Opportunities

Looking at the Bigger Picture

Our inspiration does not come from one place.

We look at what is happening across QSR, retail and the wider food and beverage market. We follow what consumers are talking about and sharing on social media. And we use market intelligence and trend data to help us understand the bigger movements behind what we are seeing.

A flavour appearing on a menu might be interesting.

Seeing that same flavour beginning to appear across retail, social media and different product categories tells us something more.

The question then becomes: what does this mean in our world?

That is where we start translating the wider market picture into opportunities for OV and our customers.

From Insight to Ingredient

Once we see something worth exploring, we look at how we can make it relevant.

Marketing builds the wider story around the opportunity and works with our New Product Development teams to explore the OV portfolio.

What products do we already have that fit the direction? Could familiar ingredients be used differently? Which flavours, textures or formats could work together? And is there an opportunity to create something new?

The result might be a single ingredient, a combination of products or a complete concept designed to bring the trend to life.

It is a collaborative process that brings together market insight, technical expertise and our knowledge of what customers are looking for.

And importantly, it turns something we have seen in the market into something you can actually taste.

From Matcha to Nostalgia

Some of the campaigns we have launched are a testament to this approach.

With Elevated Matcha, we looked beyond the fact that matcha was growing. We explored how it was moving across categories and how OV ingredients could translate that movement into new flavour, texture and application ideas.

The result was a collection of concepts that allowed customers to experience our interpretation of the trend rather than simply hear about it.

We took a similar approach with our Nostalgic Dessert Collection, looking at the wider return to familiar and comforting flavours and exploring how classic dessert inspiration could be reimagined through OV ingredients.

Very different trends, but the same principle:

Understand what is happening. Translate it into our world. Make it tangible.

Moving at the Speed of Retail

That process does not always look the same across OV.

In Retail, the pace can be much faster.

When a new flavour, format or idea starts gaining momentum, the opportunity may be to act quickly: see the trend, develop the product and put something tangible in front of the customer.

That speed allows our Retail teams to respond to what is happening in the market while the opportunity is still relevant.

The route may be different from our Ingredients business, but the thinking behind it is the same.

Do not just observe what is happening. Find a way to make it useful for our customers.

Ideas That Start Conversations

For us, that is ultimately what trend work should do.

Our customers often already come to the table with trends and movements they have identified themselves. We are not here to simply to tell them what they already know.

We want to add to the conversation.

To help them see the bigger picture. To connect an idea with an ingredient, texture or application they might not have considered. And to give them something tangible that can spark the next idea.

Sometimes a concept may lead directly to a customer brief. Sometimes one ingredient catches their attention. And sometimes it simply inspires a completely different direction.

All of those are valuable outcomes.

Because we want customers to leave a conversation with OV with more ideas than they came in with.

Come and Get to Know OV

At Fi Europe 2026, you will be able to experience some of that thinking for yourself.

We will be bringing together ingredients, applications and concepts from across OV, including ideas inspired by some of the flavours and movements we believe are worth exploring.

If you are heading to Frankfurt this November, come and meet our team, taste some of our latest concepts and tell us what you are seeing in your market too.

You might just give us our next idea.

Fi Europe 2026 | Frankfurt | 17–19 November | Stand 30C44