The Cronut is a croissant-doughnut pastry created in 2013 by French-American pastry chef Dominique Ansel; it sparked a crunchy, gooey moment in global snacks.
Texture, once a supplementary feature, is now shaping consumer cravings for crisps, frothier coffees and chewy candies. Global launches—from Starbucks Aerocano to Trolli Gummi Popz—underscore a trend driven by mouthfeel, with research showing rising searches for terms like chewy and melt‑in‑the‑mouth. The shift is prompting brands to balance texture with health, cost and taste.