Flavor Is the Add-On: Why Bold Seasonings Belong Beyond the Spice Aisle

Chile lime, chamoy, and tamarind used to be regional flavors. Now they show up on national restaurant menus and in shoppers' expectations at home. For independent grocers, that shift is less about the spice aisle and more about everywhere else in the store: the cut-fruit case, the corn display, the beer cooler, and the party table.

Who is Twang?

Twang Brands is a San Antonio, Texas-based flavor company. For 40 years, it has made flavored salts, seasonings, and drink rimmers built on the flavors of Mexican and Tex-Mex food culture: chile lime, chamoy, tamarind, mango chile, and pickle.

The brand idea is simple: drinks and snacks lack flavor until shoppers add Twang. Because Twang has made these flavors for decades, it brings credibility to a profile that is now going mainstream rather than following the trend.

Bold flavor has gone mainstream

Spicy is no longer a niche preference. According to Datassential's Spicy Food Trends 2025 report, 65% of Americans say they like or love spicy food, and 34% say they love it.¹

The flavors driving that interest have moved too. Chile lime and chamoy, long staples of Mexican and Tex-Mex food culture, are now appearing on national chain menus. Shoppers who order those flavors when they eat out are looking for ways to bring them home.

The shopper wants to customize, not switch

The opportunity is customization. A flavored salt lets a shopper change the fruit, the corn, the wings, or the drink they are already buying, without changing the rest of the basket. That makes it a “what do I add” purchase rather than a “what do I cook” purchase.

It also reaches a shopper group that matters to growth. Hispanic shoppers accounted for 16% of total U.S. CPG growth², and they are a core audience for the chile-lime and chamoy flavor profile.

Put flavor where the decision happens

The flavor decision often happens away from the spice aisle. Placing seasoning where the meal, snack, or drink is being chosen turns a one-department product into an add-on in several. Three places to start:

• Produce. Put flavored salt shakers next to cut fruit such as melon, mango, and pineapple, and next to fresh corn and root vegetables.
• Beer and mixers. Where the store carries them, cross-merchandise beer salt and drink rimmers with beer and mixers using clip strips, shippers, or other displays.
• In-store recipes. Feature a recipe on the shelf or in your in-store channels to give shoppers a reason to try something new.
• Chamoy Chicken Wings: crispy fried wings tossed in Twang Chamoy Flavored Salt. Three ingredients, connecting Twang to the meat case.
• Creamy Chile Lime Dip: creamy sour cream dip seasoned with Twang Chile Lime Salt. Six ingredients, connecting Twang to the dairy case.
• Spicy Paloma: grapefruit, lime, and jalapeño in a glass rimmed with Twang Grapefruit Drink Rimmer. Connects to the mixer and drink rimmer set.

Because flavored salts are shelf-stable, they can sit on a produce endcap, at checkout, or on a secondary display without refrigeration or a planogram reset.

The Twang lineup

The brand sells across produce, beer and beverage, snacks, meat and seafood, and Hispanic foods. That lets a store build a brand block or cross-merchandise without adding a new vendor for each department. Key items for this campaign:

• Fiesta Size flavored salt shakers in Chile Lime, Mango Chile, Chamoy, and Tamarind. Best placed in produce, next to cut fruit and corn.
• Beer Salt, merchandised in or next to the beer set.
• Drink rimmers in tubs, single-serve pouches, and clip strips, for the mixer and party-supply set.

Formats run from single-serve pouches and clip strips to tubs, shakers, and display shippers, so there is an option for any store footprint. Seasonal shippers are tooled for Holiday, Halloween, Cinco de Mayo, and patriotic windows.

Recipes give shoppers a reason to buy

Twang has three recipes for December, built around holiday gatherings, parties, and bowl games. Each one ties the brand to a different department:

Retailers can use these recipes on the shelf, in store circulars, or on their own social channels to show shoppers how to use the product.

How to get started

Shoppers are already buying the fruit, the corn, the wings, and the drinks. Twang gives them a reason to add one more item to the basket.

This December, Twang recipes will appear in IGA’s “Ugly Sweater” Holiday Cookbook, available December 2-29, and in a National Digital Circular ad block running December 16-29 highlighting Cheesy Elote Dip.

Order through your distributor, or contact Twang sales at sales@twang.com.

Sources

1. Datassential: spicy food preference (65%/34%)
   Datassential, “Spicy Food Trends 2025: Why America Can’t Get Enough Heat.”
2. Circana: Hispanic shoppers and CPG growth (16%)
   Circana, “Hispanic Consumers Drive 16% of Total US CPG Growth, Outpacing Non-Hispanics in Key Categories, Reveals New Circana Report,” press release, October 29, 2024.