Slideshow: The 2024 innovations that left us thinking, “Wait, what?”
Food and beverage producers debuted an array of unique limited-time offers (LTOs) with each passing season in 2023, competing with one another to attract media and social media attention.
There were a lot of strange LTOs in the spring. One of the most notable was when PepsiCo, Inc. re-partnered with the Peeps brand to introduce Peeps-flavored drink. The Peeps marshmallow taste was combined with PepsiCo’s cola in this limited-edition beverage.
The bizarre LTOs extended beyond the retail sector. IHOP, a division of Dine Brands Global, introduced a range of pancake tacos this summer that included a variety of savory and sweet flavor combinations, such as country chicken & gravy, strawberry cheesecake, and caramel banana.
IHOP’s vice president of cuisine, Arthur Carl II, stated, “As the leaders in breakfast, we were inspired to expand the Pancake Taco concept following IHOP’s ‘Choco-Pancake’ cultural innovation from last summer.” “We didn’t want to just remake that item; instead, we wanted to create a dish that uses our best-selling pancakes in a fun and novel way to give customers a distinctive dining experience.”
DiGiorno, a brand of Nestle USA, Inc., introduced pineapple pickle pizza in response to internet debates about contentious pizza toppings throughout the summer. The pizza, which had the most contentious components on social media, had a hand-tossed dough and was covered with mozzarella cheese, garlic sauce, sliced dill pickles on one side, and pieces of pineapple on the other.
As fall and winter approached, holiday tastes made their way back onto store shelves. Turkey Day Fixin’s, Baskin-Robbins’ November flavor of the month, was a nod to Thanksgiving. Combining sweet potato and autumn spice ice creams, honey cornbread chunks, and swirls of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, was the limited-edition taste.
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A number of businesses increased LTOs in December to wrap out the year. Inspired by the film “Elf,” HelloFresh, a meal kit startup, has brought back their spaghetti meal packages with Buddy the Elf. Colavita spaghetti was part of the Christmas package, which also contained chocolate frosted pastries, marshmallows, chocolate nonpareil sandies, maple syrup, and chocolate syrup as sweet toppings.
Last but not least, a limited-edition Empirical x Doritos Nacho Cheese Spirit was introduced by Doritos, a brand from PepsiCo, Inc.’s Frito-Lay subsidiary, in collaboration with Empirical. The firm claims that in order to make the alcoholic beverage that “offers a multi-sensorial, delicious beverage experience that smells and tastes just like the real thing,” actual Doritos chips were used in the production process, and their essence was preserved by vacuum distillation.
“Doritos is all about bringing our fans unexpected, bold experiences and disrupting culture,” Frito-Lay North America senior vice president of marketing Tina Mahal stated. “We believe it’s time to disrupt the spirits category by offering our iconic nacho cheese flavor in a bottle, as we’re always encouraging our fans to try new things.”