How Viral Food Crazes Overwhelm Farms and Supply Chains

Viral food trends now move faster than farms and factories can respond. Hogs used to be the main buyers of whey, left over from cheese production, but today livestock producers can barely pay for it as interest in whey concentrate, a staple of workout shakes, has surged with the obsession over higher protein intake while cheese output has not expanded in step.

When viral appetites outrun farms and factories

Together, those episodes point to a newer strain on the food-and-drink business. Online buzz can lift demand for an ingredient far more quickly than before, while growers and manufacturers are unable to accelerate output at the same pace. Companies are responding by trying to spot surges sooner and to survive them until shoppers shift elsewhere.

Cottage cheese, likewise promoted by TikTok creators as a muscle-building food, has faced a comparable squeeze to whey, where whey-protein prices climbed fivefold during the three years to June, according to Vesper, a research firm.

Why food and drink go viral so fast

Culinary crazes themselves go back a long way. In Georgian England pineapples were prized so highly that businesses rented out display specimens. Swiss fondue, fashionable among Americans during the 1960s and 70s, left behind millions of cheese-melting sets now gathering dust.

What differs today is that social platforms can carry such enthusiasms around the planet within weeks. After a clip featuring a Dubai-made pistachio-pastry chocolate bar became a TikTok sensation in 2023, it attracted more than 100m views. Within months leading chocolatiers offered rival versions, putting pressure on worldwide pistachio supply.

What makes a food trend Instagram-ready

Eating and drinking lend themselves especially well to virality. Bright-green matcha or purple ube lattes photograph attractively for Instagram. They also remain inexpensive enough for wide trial. Even a $19 strawberry from Japan (another recent hit) is a one-off purchase that will not ruin a budget. Younger shoppers, who devote much time to social media, also lean more toward experimentation, notes Dan Frommer, author of “The New Consumer”, a blog.

The supply-chain squeeze: whey, matcha and pistachios

That sudden appetite has overloaded production networks. Tencha leaves, used to produce matcha, nearly tripled in price between 2024 and 2025 as enthusiasm for the beverage intensified. The shrubs that yield them take years to mature.

Booming markets also draw opportunists. Rocky Xu, a matcha retailer in Los Angeles, says that after his stock ran dry last year, he discovered a market thick with intermediaries. Those entrants — largely Japanese businesspeople seeking to connect growers with overseas purchasers — drove prices higher.

How food companies try to stay ahead

Food businesses are attempting several responses. Detecting movements as early as possible lets them secure suppliers ahead of competitors.

Spotting viral food trends earlier

Starbucks, an American coffee chain, began selling green-tea lattes in 2006, well ahead of the Western matcha boom. It brought drinks with “popping pearls” to customers in 2024, before bubble tea went mainstream. Lately it introduced a protein range for its coffees, which have become as popular as flat whites in Europe.

Louise Direito, an executive at the chain, says that it has moved away from depending on “small focus groups” toward monitoring “millions of customers shaping trends in real time” online. “The challenge is knowing when to join the conversation, as well as when it’s too late,” she adds.

Partnerships as a shortcut

Partnerships offer another route. As spicy foods became all the rage in 2022, fast-food chains queued to collaborate with Fly by Jing, a fashionable chilli-oil maker. Shake Shack, a burger chain, created an entire chicken menu around it.

Knowing when not to chase a craze

Yet some crazes are better avoided. Starbucks’ olive-oil coffees disappeared from menus in America and Canada less than a year after their 2024 debut — amid complaints about laxative effects.

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