Four things to know about texture
1. Feeling it
Texture does more than complement taste—it shapes how consumers perceive food. Innova Market Insights’ 2026 snacking survey finds 35% of global consumers associate textures such as “extra creamy” with indulgence, ranking it just behind flavour (44%).
This appetite for richer mouthfeel is reflected in product development: 36% of food and beverages launched in 2024 to 2025 contained a “defined texture ingredient” (gelling agents for bubbles, flours for chew, etc.). “Texture has become a core pillar of food and beverage innovation,” says Innova co-founder and global insights director Lu Ann Williams, adding it’s “no longer a distant second to flavour.”
2. Pop goes the …
Texture is emerging as a key growth lever in crowded dairy aisles. “In categories where flavour cues can feel familiar, texture offers a new way to stand out,” notes Sabrina Zollo, vice-president marketing, yogurt and cultured, Lactalis Canada.
Case in point is the January launch of IÖGO Nanö Bubbles—100- gram yogurt cups with fruit‑flavoured gelled spheres—in three varieties: Orange Cream with Mango Bubbles, Mixed Berries with Strawberry Bubbles, and Banana with Mango Bubbles. “Bubble tea was a clear inspiration,” Zollo says. Seeing the trend spill into desserts, cookies and ice cream, the team knew it wasn’t fleeting.
READ: Yogurt’s popularity continues to climb
In confectionery, texture also matters. Citing Mintel data, Stacie Sopinka, vice-president, own brands, Sobeys, notes 47% of non‑chocolate candy buyers say texture influences purchases. Spotting freeze‑dried candy at the 2025 Sweets & Snacks Expo in Indianapolis, Ind., Sobeys launched Compliments Pop ’n Crunch Freeze‑Dried Candy. While rooted in a chewy, hard‑shell candy format, Sopinka says “the candies become crispy and crunchy while also being airy and dry with a melting sensation in the mouth.”
Available at Sobeys, Foodland/Community, Lawtons Drugs, Voilà and IGA and IGA Extra in Quebec, Pop ’n Crunch will expand to FreshCo this summer—alongside Peel N’ Pop! Peelable Gummies.
3. Marketing play
Texture is becoming a key call-out in product positioning. Sobeys emphasizes mouthfeel in store-brand names such as Panache Creamy Cucumber & Feta Dressing, Compliments Creamy Dill Pickle Wing Sauce and Compliments Extra Creamy Swiss Milk Chocolate. “Texture is now being communicated more directly and considered more deliberately,” says Sopinka.
4. Innovation takes shape
New manufacturing techniques that combine contrasting textures are creating a unique sensory experience for consumers.
Take Agropur’s Natrel Mochis ice cream wrapped in rice dough, sold in six‑piece packs in Vanilla, Raspberry, Mango and Triple Chocolate. Launched in 2019, the brand sells five million mochi pieces annually, says Mariline Mailhot, director of marketing, innovation and product development—ice cream. The slight resistance of the mochi followed by a chewy finish delivers a mouthfeel that Mailhot says “younger consumers especially crave.”
READ: What’s hot in frozen meals, premium desserts and snacks
Adapting Agropur’s ice cream and frozen novelties plant in Truro, N.S. to produce mochi was no simple feat. “We had to fly our team to Japan to learn how to make it, because there was no intel in North America,” Mailhot recalls. “We needed a custom production design—it’s not a dough you can just buy ready‑made.”
In 2023, the plant started producing ice cream balls wrapped in raw cookie dough for private labels. “We wanted something that could reach a broader audience,” Mailhot says.
And, in 2024, as part of a $34-million investment in the plant, Agropur added an extrusion line capable of inserting brownie, cake, truffle and more into ice cream products. “We’re experimenting with as many textures as we can,” Mailhot says, teasing a slate of texture‑forward products for later this year and into 2027.
This article was first published in Canadian Grocer’s May 2026 issue.
