Expo West 2026 Recap: The Super Bowl of Food & Beverage

A lot of you may have no clue what Natural Products Expo West is. And for brevity’s sake we’ll just be calling it Expo West in this article.

In short, it’s the world’s largest trade show for the natural, organic, and healthy products industry. Basically all these food and beverage brands show off their products and newest innovations.

Over 3,000 brands were in attendance this year. Including supplements, protein snacks, performance drinks, and much much more.

But the physical expo isn’t the only thing going on. Numerous offsite events happen throughout the week, and these offsites are arguably the best part of it all.

The week was nonstop, and I took notes the entire time. So below I wanted to do a deeper dive on the top trends I noticed, best moments from the week, and my favorite up-and-coming brands.

Top trends

I’ve now been to Expo West back-to-back years. My approach both years was vastly different.

Year 1, I was walking around with no rhyme or reason. Inhaling samples without taking a breath. My stomach paid the price. We live and learn.

Year 2, I went in with a game plan. First, I walked the entire floor (30,000 steps if you were curious), and took notes on every brand that caught my eye. Then, I went back to all of those brands, talked to the founders, and learned more about their products. AND I successfully said no to almost every sample, only taking down 3 in total. I know, lame. But I’m there to bring you the inside scoop, not eat my weight in protein snacks.

From all of my notes and conversations, a handful of trends surfaced:

1. Better-for-you weight loss. A good chunk of brands are positioning themselves as the bridge for people who don’t want to inject themselves with GLP-1s, but want something for weight loss. Offering modern products for metabolism, weight loss, and gut health. Wellthy caught my eye the most here.
2. Protein in everything. Drinks, noodles, ice cream, chips. You name it, it was there with protein in it. Look, protein is great and most people probably need more of it. But it doesn’t need to be in every item in my pantry. Protein-maxxing has gone too far.
3. Drinks with functional purpose. Ready-to-drink beverages were less about high energy caffeine, and more about specific function and use-case. Including drinks for brain support from Brain Juice, spring-sourced water from Loonen, drinks to wind down at night from Trip, and drinks to get your daily greens in from Huel.
4. Longevity marketing. Many brands are including “longevity” in their marketing callouts because it is the hot word in wellness right now. Don’t fall for this. Eat whole foods, sweat daily, and foster social connections. That trio will help you be healthier and live longer, not some magic pill.
5. Intentional packaging. Brands are getting creative with their packaging to stand out on the crowded shelf. Including honey coming in a tube from Honey Department, oral sleep strips packed into cigarette boxes from Sleep or Die, and on-the-go rip top packets from Datefix.
6. Fiber and gut health. Everyone is pushing the importance of your microbiome and the downstream affects on immunity, mental health, and disease. Brands and consumers are all over this.

Best moments

From year 1 to year 2, I also learned that offsites are where the magic happens. Brands get creative with their own custom activations. People take off their corporate masks and have real conversations.

So, I made it a point to attend offsites every night while I was there. Which, turned my phone into a nonstop Partiful and Luma notification center.

These were my top 3 offsite events:

1. PLTFRM PRE EXPO – The event that really kicked off the week. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at Élephante. This event eased you in and was a nice reminder that yeah we’re here for an expo, but let’s also have some fun while we’re at it.
2. America’s Next Top Snack – Six snack brands went head to head for a panel of judges and live audience, with the winner taking home a $15,000 investment. It’s hard to make presentations entertaining. Most events just do the same old panel format. Props to Air for putting something together that was truly unique and engaging.
3. Good Peeps x DoorDash – The event that bookended it all. Had a similar vibe to the PLTFRM PRE EXPO event, but was a bit more intimate. Good vibes, good people, and a good way to cap off the week.

Favorite brands

There were 3,000+ brands at Expo West, so it’s not easy trimming it down to a shortlist of favorites. Brands ranged from all sizes and categories. I couldn’t include everyone, and I’m sure I missed a few while I was there.

My list below focuses on the smaller brands that caught my eye:

1. Juicybite – Protein in a bag. But it’s real food, unlike all the protein snacks launching. They have chicken and duck breast. Heat it up quickly, or just eat it cold out of the bag.
2. Datefix – Endurance energy packs made with dates. So rather than forcing down goop on your long run, you can have something closer to real food. And I love the branding.
3. Wellthy – They are making a splash in the better-for-you weight loss category that I mentioned above. Building supplements that bridge the gap for people that don’t want to do GLP-1s.
4. Dissolvd – Oral peptide strips. Peptides are taking over, but they all come in the form of injections. So I’m intrigued by these if they are legit and have efficacy.
5. Honey Dept – Honey but thicker, and in a squeeze tube. I just love this packaging and branding.
6. Goodvice – A clinical-grade prebiotic fiber supplement that comes in indulgent flavors. Like “Best-Ever Chocolate”, “Madagascar Vanilla”, and “Sweet Cream Coffee”.