From flavored foam to ‘Friends,’ how coffee creamer became a $5 billion category

Stroll down the dairy aisle of your local grocer, and you’ll likely find a growing array of coffee creamers with so many flavors that it practically rivals sweets and sodas.

Stroll down the dairy aisle of your local grocer, and you’ll likely find a growing array of coffee creamers with so many flavors that it practically rivals sweets and sodas. Once, hazelnut and French vanilla were the only creamer options. Those quaint days are long gone, with wacky flavors (Snickers, anyone?), sprayable foams and even TV-themed options like “Friends” and “The White Lotus,” hitting store shelves to satisfy America’s seemingly endless thirst for creamers. Nestlé-owned Coffee-mate and Danone-owned International Delight, the top two brands in the creamer category, are churning out new flavors in part to chase Generation Z customers inspired by TikTok and are increasingly making coffee at home. During the height of Covid-19, International Delight “saw consumers really wanting that coffee house experience at home” — which continued following the pandemic and now is being spurred by crazy coffee creations on the #CoffeeTok hashtag TikTok, according to Olivia Sanchez, senior vice president of creamers for Danone North America. “We know that that personalized experience is very much authentic to this younger generation and that the first coffee is really critical,” she told CNN. “They got very much inspired by combining different formats and flavors at home.” Sales have soared to $5 billion in 2024, according to research firm Circana. Growth in the refrigerated coffee creamer category has jumped about 14% over the past two years, with International Delight’s flavors and Chobani’s oat-based creamers triggering a bulk of that growth.