The next big opportunity in fragrance and flavor is to become part of the broader routines consumers build around how they want to feel, function and live.
That is a central implication of Mintel’s Global Predictions 2027 report, which identifies a shift from individual products to interconnected systems designed around specific outcomes. Consumers are combining products, services and behaviors to pursue goals such as better sleep, sustained energy, emotional well-being, healthy aging and easier household management. For fragrance and flavor companies, this creates opportunities to contribute to experiences that extend beyond a product’s immediate sensory appeal.
1. Sleep and well-being create new sensory briefs.
Mintel identifies sleep as a particularly clear example of cross-category demand, with related conversations spanning beverages, meals, snacks, supplements, skin care and household products.
Fragrance and flavor developers could find opportunities in evening beverages, wind-down routines, personal care and home fragrance, designing complementary sensory profiles around a shared occasion or desired experience.
The report also highlights research by Japanese company Mandom linking calming fragrances with faster sleep onset and improved skin brightness, illustrating how scent may intersect with broader well-being and beauty routines.
2. Flavor innovation moves beyond taste and satiety.
Food and beverage products are increasingly evaluated for their potential role in goals such as sustained energy, weight management, hydration, skin health and emotional resilience.
This raises the importance of flavor systems that make functional products appealing enough for repeat use, whether in protein-rich beverages, hydration products, fortified foods or products designed for specific occasions.
Flavor houses can help address sensory challenges associated with functional ingredients while developing profiles suited to evolving consumption habits. The commercial opportunity is not simply to add a benefit, but to make the resulting product work within consumers’ everyday routines.
3. Cross-category thinking could reshape fragrance briefs.
As beauty, wellness and household care increasingly overlap, fragrance developers may be asked to design sensory experiences that work across multiple touchpoints. A calming scent, for example, could be considered as part of a wider evening routine spanning personal care and the home.
In household products, fragrance must also work alongside cleaning performance, ease of use and consumers’ expectations for a comfortable, healthy-feeling environment. The opportunity is to connect scent character and performance to the context in which a product is used, rather than treating fragrance as an isolated finishing element.
3. Evidence will matter as much as the sensory proposition.
Mintel argues that consumers are becoming more discerning about product claims and increasingly look for evidence that products contribute to their intended outcomes.
For fragrance and flavor suppliers, this points to a greater role for sensory testing, consumer research and application-specific performance evaluation. Emotional responses, liking, intensity, persistence and repeat-use appeal can help substantiate a product proposition, although sensory preference alone does not establish a physiological or health benefit.
Claims around sleep, mood or other wellness outcomes will require appropriate evidence.
4. Product development needs to follow the consumer’s routine.
Mintel’s broader Products to Systems framework challenges companies to look beyond individual launches and consider how products complement other purchases, behaviors and services.
For fragrance and flavor suppliers, that could mean collaborating earlier with brand owners, ingredient suppliers and adjacent categories to develop sensory platforms for particular occasions or consumer goals. It also creates a reason to revisit traditional market segmentation: the same consumer may want different flavor and fragrance experiences depending on the moment, context and desired outcome.
What's next?
The takeaway for the industry is that sensory performance may need to do more. Fragrance and flavor will continue to drive enjoyment, differentiation and product acceptance, but the strongest development opportunities may come from connecting those qualities to meaningful consumer routines—and demonstrating why the sensory experience belongs there.
