CAGNY 2026 was not really a conference about growth. It was a conference about credibility.

In a tougher, noisier, more fragmented food and beverage landscape, what stood out wasn’t bold new claims, but a shift in tone. Less big talk about transformation, more effort to show what is actually working. It felt like an industry trying to rebuild belief after a year where a lot of plans didn’t quite land.

Last year, we left with a sense of tension across F&B. Some businesses playing defence, tightening portfolios and protecting margin, while others were stretching into new spaces and trying to shape demand. Growth often felt like optimisation rather than reinvention. This year, that tension hasn’t disappeared, but it has settled into something more realistic.

PepsiCo, for example, kept returning to the idea that they are “on offence”. It became a bit of a refrain. And that in itself is telling. In this environment, saying it once doesn’t quite land; it needs to be reinforced.

When I stepped back from the week, a few patterns started to emerge. Not radically new ideas, but clearer signals of how the industry is recalibrating. Four shifts, in particular, kept coming up.1. Growth is becoming more about the How than the Where

One of the clearest shifts this year is where the energy is going. Less time spent painting big pictures of future growth spaces, more time spent explaining how growth is actually going to be delivered.

I found myself noticing how often presentations moved quickly into the detail; what needs fixing, what needs scaling, where execution has been inconsistent. There was a lot of focus on getting the basics right again. Portfolio choices, price-pack architecture, distribution, in-store execution, supply chain: all the levers that don’t always make headlines, but ultimately determine whether growth shows up or not.

In hindsight, it makes sense. Last year, there was a strong sense of “we’ll get back to 5–6% growth,” and then the reality of the year, from softer demand to things like tariffs, made those kinds of targets feel increasingly unrealistic. This year feels more grounded. General Mills set the tone early by guiding to a flat to slightly negative year, which probably lowered the temperature for everyone else.

What’s interesting is that this hasn’t killed ambition, it’s just changed where it sits. Growth in food and beverage is less about finding one big unlock, and more about putting together a series of moves that add up. Different plays across pricing, renovation, distribution, innovation, each doing a bit of the work.

It’s a bit like a chessboard. There isn’t one winning move, but a sequence that builds advantage over time.

And that’s where the confidence is coming from. It’s still there, but it feels different. It’s less about big promises, and more about having a handle on what actually drives the business.2. Consumer centricity is becoming much more real

Consumer centricity has been a constant refrain in F&B for years, but this was the first time it felt consistently tangible. Not as a principle, but as a series of very specific choices.

I kept hearing and seeing examples of businesses getting more precise about how people actually eat, snack and drink: how they shop, what they prioritise, where they compromise. There’s more attention on cohorts, contexts, and behaviours, and less reliance on broad, catch-all insights.

For example, Mondelez talked very specifically about how different income groups are behaving differently; leaning into affordability and pack architecture for some consumers, while simultaneously building premium indulgence for others. General Mills, in a different way, broke down “remarkability” into the full experience; product, packaging, communication and omnichannel execution, recognising that value isn’t just price, it’s how the whole thing lands.

What’s changed is the level of translation. It’s no longer enough to say “we understand the consumer.” The question is whether that understanding shows up in the product, the pack, the format, the channel, the price point. In other words, whether the brand fits into everyday consumption in a way that feels easy and natural.

It’s a subtle shift, but an important one. From empathy to usability.3. Growth is being unlocked through occasions, not categories

If there was one theme that kept resurfacing across the F&B players, it was this idea of occasions. Not always explicitly labelled as such, but clearly driving a lot of thinking.

More moments in the day. More reasons to choose. More ways to show up across eating and drinking.

PepsiCo talked about expanding into more dayparts and building a much bigger “away from home” business, recognising how much consumption is shifting out of the house. Mondelez showed how snacking is becoming more mobile and more frequent, with a real focus on on-the-go formats and mini occasions. Even more traditional players are finding ways to stretch, turning snacks into meal replacements, or beverages into functional rituals.

In a category like F&B, where penetration is already high and habits are deeply ingrained, this feels particularly important. Growth isn’t just about getting more people in; it’s about being relevant more often.

It’s a much more dynamic way of thinking about growth. Not “how do we sell more of what we have,” but “where else do we have permission to play?”

And it’s something we’re increasingly seeing come through in the briefs landing at Butterfly. Less focus on “the next product,” more on identifying new moments, new need states, and new ways for brands to earn a place in people’s lives.4. Wellness is being woven in, not bolted on

Health and wellness came through strongly across the industry, but in a way that felt more integrated than before. Less about separate “better for you” propositions, more about evolving the core of what people already buy.

Protein, fibre, lower sugar, functional benefits: they’re showing up everywhere, but often in familiar food and beverage formats. The emphasis isn’t on asking consumers to change their behaviour dramatically, but on making small shifts feel easy, even enjoyable.

What I found encouraging is that it doesn’t feel overly worthy. There’s still a clear focus on taste, on pleasure, on convenience; all the things that fundamentally drive F&B choice. It’s not about creating a new kind of consumer; it’s about meeting the one that already exists, just with slightly different expectations.

In that sense, wellness is becoming less of a trend, and more of a baseline. What’s changing is how it’s being framed, not as something new, but as something that simply needs to be there.

Stepping back, the overall impression from CAGNY this year is of a food and beverage industry getting sharper about how growth actually happens. Not louder, not necessarily more radical, but more intentional.

If last year was about deciding whether to play offence or defence, this year is about proving you can do both without losing your centre. There’s a growing recognition that you need discipline to deliver and imagination to expand; one without the other doesn’t really work anymore.

At Butterfly, we’ve always believed that growth comes from thinking harder and feeling deeper. What this year reinforced is that the two are starting to come together in a much more natural way. The businesses creating belief right now are the ones making growth feel intuitive on the outside and incredibly well-built underneath.

Growth in food and beverage isn’t just something you promise. It’s something people have to believe.