These 8 Up-And-Coming Grocery Brands Are The Ones To Watch In 2026

Every year, we see more and more food brands hitting the market with creative, innovative new products. Some are wildly successful, building food empires by meeting some yet-unmet need in the market. Others see a flurry of success at the beginning and then, eventually, flop, leaving store shelves for good. Still others build for years to create lasting demand for their products. But what will 2026 bring us in the new food product landscape? Time will tell, but for now, we're keeping our eyes on these up-and-coming brands.

You might have seen some of these brands' products in your grocery store already, or perhaps you're only seeing ads for them online. Regardless, they're worth checking out if you want to gain a deeper understanding of where food trends are headed this year (or if you just want to taste interesting new products). These are the brands that are currently set to see even more growth in the coming year.

Energy drinks are having a moment in the food world. It seems like everyone is looking for new, delicious ways to stay awake and alert, and several companies are swooping in with products that meet that need. Benny happens to be one of them. Co-founders Julie Letizia and Paige Cey met in college and found that they couldn't find an energy drink that made them feel their best. They decided to create a new energy drink made with yerba mate and adaptogens, which they frame as being better for drinkers than an average, sugar- and caffeine-packed energy drink.

Benny has landed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Food and Drink list for 2026, which spells a promising future for the Canadian brand. At the end of 2025, Target started selling the beverage in stores, although you can also buy it online. With trendy flavors like elderberry yuzu and peach lychee, it looks like you'll be seeing a lot more of Benny in the coming months.

If you pay attention to the food world at all, then you know that protein is everywhere. Many companies are infusing various snack foods with tons of protein to try to appeal to more health-minded consumers. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that Nurri, a company that makes canned protein shakes, appears on Instacart's fastest-growing emerging brands list for 2025. The main appeal seems to be the health aspect of the product: Each can contains 30 grams of protein and only a single gram of sugar. But smart branding has also positioned Nurri in a unique way, allowing it to appeal to those who aren't interested in the more clinical-looking packaging of many protein shakes currently on the market.

You can already find Nurri at large retailers like Costco and Walmart, and the brand just started to roll out its advertising campaign at the beginning of 2026. If you're in the market for high-protein products, there's a good chance that you're going to see a lot more of Nurri in the coming months.

Not every food trend going into 2026 is all about health. Ready-to-drink alcohol is also an arena that's seeing a lot of growth, as customers are looking for canned and bottled cocktails, seltzers, and mixed drinks that are easy to crack open and enjoy even without a shaker and a full bar setup at home. BuzzBallz is a brand that's capitalizing on this growth, which is why Numerator listed it as one of its fastest-growing brands of 2025.

The company has actually been around for a while, though. It was launched back in 2009 by Merrilee Kick, who was a 47-year-old teacher trying to find an efficient way to make money after a divorce. But now, it's regarded as the top-selling single-serve, pre-mixed cocktail in the U.S., overtaking many other popular brands. Packaged in round plastic balls, the packaging — and, honestly, the drink itself — isn't quite as trendy as many brands out there. But perhaps that low-key energy is part of what makes it so appealing.

People who spend a lot of time on TikTok have likely come across Coconut Cult, a wildly viral yogurt brand that's found major success online. It's not cheap, but many customers say that it makes them feel amazing, and in 2025, the company reported that it was difficult to keep up with the number of orders it had coming in. Coconut Cult got its start back in 2015 but has really taken off in the past few years.

It's yet another brand that focuses primarily on providing consumers with an ostensibly healthier option. The founder, Noah Simon-Waddell, had his own health problems, and in trying to fix them, he turned to food. After making his own yogurt at home, hoping for a healthier, less-processed alternative to store-bought yogurt, he realized that he could make a much better-quality product. Now, the brand can be found in several major retailers, like Target and Whole Foods.

Built Bar is yet another protein-focused company that's making waves on the grocery scene in 2026 — at Tasting Table, we even did a ranking of the brand's Puff bars in mid-2025. It was named as Numerator's number one fastest-growing brand of 2025, and it's generally the fastest-growing protein bar brand in the country right now. Chances are, you've seen it at your local grocery store, since it's now being sold at major national retailers like Target, CVS, and Walmart.

The company got its start when the founder, Nick Greer, became convinced he could make a protein bar that tasted better than the ones he had tried from grocery stores in the past. He experimented in a small kitchen, dreaming up the flavors that would become part of Built's flavor lineup. There are now a ton of interesting flavors from which to choose, like peanut butter cookie chunk, lemon meringue pie, and even churro.

It's no secret that many consumers are looking for ways to achieve a healthier diet without sacrificing too much of their time and energy in the kitchen, so it makes sense that Bloom Nutrition is one of Numerator's fastest-growing brands to watch this year. The company sells a line of health-focused products, including powders, gummies, and beverages, all with purported health benefits. From collagen peptides to powdered greens, these products help consumers feel like they're meeting more of their nutritional needs in a way that's easier than always having fresh greens and protein on hand.

Bloom Nutrition got its start in 2019, and thanks to an effective marketing strategy, the company's products are in Target and Costco, along with several other major retailers. Not only did Bloom employ a super successful influencer marketing campaign, but it also offers a subscribe-and-save payment model that delivers products straight to customers' doors on a set schedule.

Another one of Numerator's fastest-growing brands is Surfside, which is making its own splash on the ready-to-drink alcoholic beverage scene. In mid-2025, Forbes called it the "fastest-growing alcohol brand in America." Although much of the RTD bev scene is dominated by hard seltzers, Surfside took a different approach with its combo of iced tea and vodka. It provides a perfect alternative to those who are looking for a canned alcoholic beverage that isn't carbonated. And at only 100 calories per can, it's nutritionally on par with most hard seltzers on the market.

Surfside marks a turn toward lower-ABV beverages, which are perfect for outdoor sipping during warmer months when a stronger, more aggressive-tasting cocktail might not perform as well. Plus, the fact that it uses actual vodka in place of the malt liquor so common in these types of beverages is a major plus for many consumers.

Haven't gotten your fill of protein-packed products yet? Well, you might want to check out Barebells, another protein bar company taking the functional nutrition world by storm. It is yet another of Numerator's fastest-growing brands to watch, and it's sold at many of the stores you may already shop at, including Target and The Vitamin Shoppe. But now, it's expanding beyond protein bars, rolling out new protein-focused beverages as well. Not only does the brand now boast a milk-based protein drink, but it's even launched a protein soda for those who are trying to get their gains without giving up on the drinks they love.

But Barebells isn't just making an impact on the American grocery market. The company was actually founded in Sweden, and it can be found in around 40 markets across the globe. If you haven't yet come across this brand at your local grocery store, chances are good that you will soon.