Food Industry Webinars & Online Events
The 24th Annual Prepared Foods Spirit of Innovation Awards
The 24th Annual Spirit of Innovation webinar will shine a spotlight on top food and beverage innovations driving growth across the industry. The event will begin with perspectives from Lu Ann Williams, co-founder and global insights director for Innova Market Insights, outlining emerging and ongoing developments shaping our industry, including commentary on Innova’s Top 10 Trends for 2027.
We will then shift the spotlight to the winners of the 2026 Spirit of Innovation Awards, with input from each of the winning teams discussing the challenges that arose during the R&D process and the impetus behind their market strategy.
The 2026 Spirit of Innovation Award winners are:
- Judges Selection, Most Innovative: Gluten-Free Filled Pretzel Sticks, Quinn Foods
- Best Retail Food: MULU High-Protein Cottage Cheese, Dairy Farmers of America
- Best Retail Beverage: mōcean Adaptogenic Energy Drink, Mōcean Drinkwerx
- Best Alternate Channel/Deli Product: Fermented Chickpea Salads, wildbrine
- Best Foodservice Front-of-House Product: Egg Clouds, Cuisine Solutions (addressing consumer trends)
- Best Foodservice Back-of-House Product: Pillsbury Mini Pancake Puffs, General Mills Foodservice (addressing operator needs)
The proceedings will then conclude with some collective 2027 industry trends discussion with all webinar speakers, including opportunities for audience Q&A.
The Spirit of Innovation Awards honor the food and beverage development teams behind today’s most inventive products. From consumer insights and R&D to formulation and full-scale launch, Prepared Foods recognizes innovation at every stage. This webinar will place the winners within the context of larger consumer trends inspiring high levels of innovation in product development today.
Prepared Foods is proud to acknowledge the critical operational and judging role of Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations in the annual Spirit of Innovation Awards program.
