Newstalgia, as the name suggests, refers to nostalgic items with a new twist, often an improvement or enhancement to the original. In food and beverage, this is Gen Z taking an interest in products from the 70s and 80s, the years their parents grew up and when life was much less stressful and social media did not exist. The good old days for us Gen Xers!
Newstalgia is more than making everything old new again. It’s about taking products from a few decades ago that brought joy to consumers, and bringing them back with 21st century appeal. That joy, that appeal is about the experience.
Colored sugars were once big around the winter holidays. But back in the day, they were just that, colored sugars. This year, McCormick is offering six varieties of Holiday Finishing Sugars. The newstalgia colored sugars come flavored. Some of those flavors are classic favorites, such as Candy Cane, English Toffee, Gingerbread Spice and Hot Cocoa. Salted Caramel and White Frosting are more 21st century.
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Pinkberry is doing it with frozen yogurt. New Snickerdoodle Cookie is a non-tart frozen yogurt topped with sugar, cinnamon-dusted shortbread cookie crumbles and chocolate chips.
“Our new Snickerdoodle Cookie frozen yogurt is a comforting sweet treat that goes beyond the ordinary and will capture the hearts and taste buds of cookie enthusiasts,” says Melissa Hubbell, vice president of marketing for Kahala Brands, parent company of Pinkberry. “The Snickerdoodle Cookie frozen yogurt wouldn’t be complete without the finishing touch of warm, comforting flavors of cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top bringing joy and nostalgia to every bite.”
The PB&J sandwich was and still is an American staple in peanut safe households. The average American will eat 1,500 PB&J sandwiches before graduating from high school, according to a survey by the Smucker’s Company.
“Certain foods strike up strong childhood memories, and our new Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream captures that nostalgia in every scoop," says Jennifer Schuler, CEO of Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream. “We love to innovate by reinventing timeless classics, a tradition we’ve upheld throughout our nearly 80-year history. Now more than ever, guests seek familiar, indulgent flavors with a modern twist. Our new flavor offers a universal appeal that sparks kids’ imagination while rekindling fond school day memories for parents and grandparents.”
Cold Stone Creamery went retro this summer with three limited-edition items:
Classic Fudge Sundae--French Vanilla Ice Cream layered with Fudge, Roasted Almonds, Whipped Topping and topped with a Cherry.
Orange Cream Float--Sweet Cream Ice Cream topped with FANTA Orange Soda and Whipped Topping.
Root Beer Float--French Vanilla Ice Cream topped with Barq’s Root Beer and Whipped Topping.
Bimbo Bakeries USA, manufacturer of Little Bites--the iconic mini-muffin brand that turns 25 this year--is going big for its birthday celebration with the launch of Little Bites Biggie Muffins.
“Our fans grew up with the classic Little Bites muffins in their childhood lunchboxes, after school and on sidelines. Biggie Muffins have allowed us to provide fans of all ages that perfect bite of nostalgia, now in a bigger size, just like them,” says Moira Flood, marketing director. “Biggie Muffins are the perfect snack for those with busy lives who crave a moment of sweet indulgence.”
1440 Foods is giving a nostalgic twist to its Pure Protein bar brand with the addition of Sundae Cone. Protein bars barely existed 25 years ago, and then they took off. Gen Z grew up with them and now wants them with new flavor twists.
Nostalgic cereals are getting a makeover, too. Ghost, a lifestyle brand of sports nutrition products, energy drinks, dietary supplements and apparel, is entering the mainstream food sector with high-protein cereals. The line was developed in partnership with the cereal gurus at General Mills Inc. The Marshmallow variety includes the iconic Lucky Charms marshmallows and provides 17 grams of protein per serving. Peanut Butter provides 18 grams of protein and only 6 grams of sugar per serving. Both cereals are also a good source of calcium and are designed to help consumers keep nutrition goals on track from morning to night.
Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar franchise was ahead of its time, as most of its offerings are based on newstalgia. This summer, for example, Milk Bar teamed up with Tropicana to make a limited-time-offering. The soft-serve, Orange Squeeze is a nostalgic cream-meets-citrus flavor. A cup sold for $7 and a pint for $13.
“I grew up racing to the ice cream truck to score my favorite creamy, orange and vanilla flavored bar,” says Tosi. “Orange Squeeze is our take on that childhood classic, transporting you back, Milk Bar style, to sweet summer memories of that bright, fresh-tasting combo.”
The pandemic required that Tosi pivot her café business into retail pints. She started with four of the café’s most popular ice creams flavors. Soon, three others followed as the brand gained national distribution.
The four original pints included Birthday Cake, a birthday cake-flavored ice cream with birthday cake crumbs and ribbons of birthday frosting. The Cereal Milk ice cream base tastes like the bottom of the cereal bowl with some extras in the form of a salty-sweet cornflake crunch. Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow is an ode to the Milk Bar’s bestselling cookie. It combines cornflake crunch, chocolate chunks and gooey marshmallow swirls throughout a cookie dough ice cream. Milk Bar Pie is vanilla ice cream with swirls of a gooey butter filling and toasted oat crumble.
The three additional flavors are Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Crush (peanut butter chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cookie crumbs and fudgy chocolate cookie batter); Chocolate Mint Cookies N’ Cream (chocolate mint ice cream, chocolate cookie batter, cookies n’ cream crunch and creamy mint swirl) and Vanilla Sugar Cookie (vanilla cookie swirled into an ultra-creamy pint of vanilla-flavored ice cream with sugar cookies and a frosting swirl).
“I have dreamed about bringing Milk Bar to the freezer section--the holy grail of the supermarket in my opinion--for nearly a decade. I knew coming in now, we’d need to do more than bend pieces of our finished treats into an ice cream pint. So we toiled and tinkered, taking our favorite flavor profiles and imagining them through ice cream bases, swirls, gobs, fudges, frostings, crumbs and crunches to create our proudest on-shelf creation yet,” said Tosi, when the line debuted in June 2021. “Our ice creams are meant for the unapologetically indulgent moments and mean serious business, no two are alike. Whether we already have a place in your heart or you’re looking for even more joy and spirit in your ice cream bowl, we got you!”
Remember to include newstalgia in your product--and package--development.
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