More than ever before, it’s attractive – and easy – for people to smell of food. Over the past decade, the share of European fragrance launches with a gourmand scent was never more than 10%, according to Mintel GNPD. In the year to June 2026, this jumped to 18%.
This is largely about consumers diversifying their pick-me-ups: 71% tell us the aroma of food & drink boosts their mood. A caramel pistachio croissant body mist enables indulgence to be projected and inhaled, without being consumed.
The timing is striking. The rise of food-inspired fragrances coincides with the arrival of WeGovy’s weight-loss drugs pill format. GLP-1 users’ heightened smell-sensitivity is well documented. It is tempting to think Jo Malone’s Veggies Collection was timed to ride GLP-1-fuelled demand for healthier foods. Regardless, the direction is clear: fragrance is borrowing from food, not vice versa.
This will change. For food and drink brands, exploring alternative usage occasions and human touchpoints is a route to volume growth, and fragrance offers inspiration. Mintel insights show 65% of 16 to 34-year-old UK soft drink users are interested in products that enhance flavour through scent, such as bottles designed to release aromas. Soft drinks brands have just as much permission to play here as fragrance does.
First movers will likely come from the US and Asia, where the blurring of fragrance and food & drink is reaching whirlwind levels. Korean fragrance brand Borntostandout recently launched Cola Addict eau de parfum. It is a cola perfume; it isn’t designed to be sprayed on your drink. But in an era of customisation and TikTok-fuelled experimentation, people will be tempted to, and that is the starting whistle for food & drink brands.
Edible food & drink-branded mists and fragrances could satisfy calorie-free cravings for those managing their weight. A more blue-sky opportunity is branded scented inhalers. In Thailand, inhaler brands like Erb are part fashionable keyring, part aromatic mood boost. Trends from Asia have a decent hit-rate in the west right now, and escapism via a branded, mouth-wateringly scented accessory has youth appeal.
The other big learning from fragrance is escapism. Fragrance does not simply highlight yuzu or mango notes; it describes being transported to the far-flung place where these ingredients call home. Brits’ wanderlust is frustrated by high prices and geopolitics, and food & drink can look to fragrance to help them feel connected to the wider world.
Food & drink businesses are under pressure and risk-averse. The line between gimmickry and innovation is threadbare. Yet the gourmand fragrance boom exposes how little food & drink brands are competing on fragrance’s turf.
With food-inspired fragrances at record levels, and GLP-1 potentially escalating scent-satiety to a mass audience, the circumstances look good. The next Chanel No.5 may not come from a fragrance house – it may come from the food aisle.
Alex Beckett is principal strategist at Mintel Food & Drink
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