Behind the Lens at the Summer Fancy Food Show 2026

Every June, the specialty food and beverage industry takes over the Javits Center for three days of tasting, talking, and a lot of walking. This year, OMS Photography made the trip to the 2026 Summer Fancy Food Show, and came home with sore feet, a few new favorite snacks, and a good reminder of how much work goes into getting a product from shelf to cart.

A few things stood out on the floor. Ingredient transparency is everywhere now, with whole cacao pods, sliced ginger, and visible spice blends replacing simple product shots. Texture is doing more work than ever, since brands can’t let people taste a product through a screen, so crumb, glaze, and crackle have to sell it visually. And founder-led brands are leaning hard into story, pairing product with a face and a narrative that photography and video have to bring to life.

Beyond the tasting, a big part of our trip was connecting with food and beverage brands who care as much about how their product looks as how it’s made. That’s exactly the kind of partner we love working with, whether it’s a hero shot for packaging, a full campaign for a launch, or a content library built for social and retail.

Trade shows are a good gut check for any creative team. The Fancy Food Show reminded us that the brands winning attention on shelf and online are the ones treating photography and video as core to the product, not an afterthought.

We’re already looking forward to next year. If your brand needs photography or video that makes your product impossible to scroll past, let’s talk.