From chewy dates nestled in wispy phyllo to airy protein bars that snap like a cereal treat and gummies with layered chew, food brands are pushing sensory boundaries to deliver more from every bite.
The Specialty Food Association declared 2026 the year of “sensemaxxing,” describing a growing consumer appetite for foods that combine bold flavor, dynamic textures and functional benefits without sacrificing fun.
At Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif. last week, brands across categories embraced that challenge, debuting products designed to amplify every aspect of eating, from crunch and chew to flavor complexity and nutritional value.
Kitchen & Love reinvent baklava for everyday snacking
In an era where GLP-1s are curbing consumer appetites and fear about excessive sugar, sodium and fat are reigniting a calorie-counting culture, every bite must count – prompting brands to create ‘mini’ or mindful morsels that layer textures and flavors into multi-sensory single bites.
Case in point: Kitchen & Love’s Sweet Nests, which are a bite-size, better-for-you twist on beloved baklava.
Instead of the decadent medallions of mounded phyllo dough layered with nuts and doused in honey, Kitchen & Love shreds the paper-thin dough into twists that are woven together to create one-bite beds that are filled with dark chocolate chips and almonds, chopped dates and pistachios or dates and cashews that are drizzled with agave.
“Traditionally, baklava is only sold in the fourth quarter. They are very, very sweet because there is so much honey and sugar. You can’t eat more than one piece. But we wanted to do something that Americans can eat everyday and reduce the sugar content. So, we removed all of that honey and all the extra sugar and used agave because it is fructose-based, so lower glycemic index. And by making it portion packaged, it helps everybody out,” said company CEO Dean Wilkinson.
He advises consumers to enjoy the nests in one big bite to maximize the experience and minimize the mess.
“I advise one bite because you get the crunchiness of kataifi, the dates add a little bit of chew to it and then the crunch of the nuts. You also get that light sweetness of the agave syrup. And it is incredible,” he said.
The same texture contrast drives sales in another product featuring almonds stuffed inside dates and coated in chocolate. The crunch and chew are complemented by the bittersweet balance of the dark 85% chocolate that coats the sweet date.
“It is the No. 1 seller,” Wilkinson added.
Issei reimagines gummies with a softer chew plays well with flavors and textures
While some brands layer textures within indulgent treats, others are rethinking entire categories around texture innovation.
Issei is tackling what its founder sees as a major opportunity in the gummy category: texture.
“Gummies are all about texture. But people have been doing it the same way for 100 years. They either use pectin or gelatin, which are great, but there are so many other ingredients that can give you a different chew or a different textural experience or mouthfeel,” said Mika Shino, founder and CEO of Issei.
“We use tapioca flour and rice flour” so that when consumers bite into the brand’s mochi gummies “it is a cloudy, soft chew – a pillowy chew that is a mixture of a marshmallow and a gummy bear. It is that middle spot, so it doesn’t stick to your teeth. It bounces back. It is kind of foamy, kind of cloudy,” she said.
The brand also layers textures by coating the gummies in chocolate.
Shino explains that the taste of traditional gummy bears can be lost when enrobed in chocolate because the gummy is so hard and chewy that by the time the consumer bites through it, the chocolate has fully coated their mouth.
With Issei, the chocolate layer creates almost a popping texture that allows the soft middle to burst forward.
Flavor development is intentionally subtle, encouraging consumers to keep eating.
Shino explains the softer texture also allows for softer flavor profiles that are “more perfumey” than traditional candy sold in the US. She opined that Western candies tend to be more jammy with dense, dark flavors, whereas in Asia they are more citrusy and focused on the “peak of the fruit.”
The lighter profile inspires consumers “to chase” the flavor in the bag – eating more and more mochi gummies, she added.
Another benefit of the chewy format is that it changes how flavor develops.
“Flavor develops in your mouth as you’re chewing it rather than popping immediately when you put it in your mouth,” she said.
Mezcla: Making protein bars light, crispy and snackable
Texture innovation also is appearing in unexpected places where function often outweighs fun, such as the protein bar aisle.
Protein bars are often criticized for being heavy or chalky, but Mezcla is positioning its bars as the opposite.
Made with pea crisp proteins and available in both classic and “artisanal flavors,” like pistachio chocolate or matcha vanilla, Mezcla bars are made with pea crisp proteins so they feel lighter than other traditional protein bars, said Carli Nicholas, head of marketing at Mezcla.
“Our true brand moat at Mezcla is that we are a sensory-led protein bar. We’re not going to eat like a traditional protein bar, which is dense and chewy and gets stuck in your teeth. This eats like a snack. I like to call it a grown-up Rice Krispie treat. So, it’s light, it’s crunchy. When you break it apart, you can hear the crunch or ‘the snap, crackle, and pop,’ as we used to say as kids,” she explained.
The bar’s unique texture open the door for the brand to build out “more emotional territories around the set” as a really “enjoyable eating experience,” she added.
Popnuts: Doubling down on crunch
Crunch also plays a starring role in another Expo West snack built around layered textures: Popnuts.
The snack combines baked peanuts with a corn coating to create two types of crunch.
“The outside corn shell is not going to be like your normal corn nut, which is kind of hard. It is actually airy and glassy. And then you get that Argentinian peanut in there that – I don’t even have words for – you just crunch on,” and it combines a craveable sensation and flavor, said Rob Cocchiola, a sales rep for the brand.
Texture becomes the next frontier of food innovation
As illustrated at Expo West, brands across categories are are increasingly designing products around the entire eating experience, not just flavor, texture or nutrition.
For many companies, that means experimenting with layered textures, subtle flavors and formats that encourage consumers to savor every bite.
