Caffeine Is the New Protein: Inside the $6%-a-Year Food Additive Boom

U.S. spending on caffeinated beverages will grow 6% annually through 2030, outpacing the overall food industry, according to Morgan Stanley — with energy drinks leading the charge and even getting a lift from GLP-1 users. That forecast explains why caffeine, long the most widely consumed psychoactive drug on the planet, now shows up in trail mix, beef jerky, gummy bears and water.

This "caffeine creep," as observers call it, is part of a decade-plus trend toward functional foods and drinks — think proteinmaxxing and fibermaxxing. Liz Moskow, food futurist and principal of the consultancy Bread & Circus, frames it as "the optimization of everything." Eating chocolate is no longer enough; the chocolate must improve gut health, memory or deliver some other measurable benefit.

"Enter caffeine," Moskow says. "It's a cheap additive. It boosts metabolism. It gives you that quick hit that you feel."

Why are consumers buying caffeine instead of coffee?

Red Bull arrived in the United States in 1997; Monster followed five years later. Today, per industry trackers, Celsius is the category leader. But the deeper shift is in what shoppers actually want.

"Consumers aren't really looking for coffee. They're looking for focus. They're looking for productivity," says Sally Lyons Wyatt, chief advisor for consumer goods and food service at market research firm Circana. She describes customers shopping for "benefits and outcomes" rather than beverages.

That insight drove Orka Beverage's founders to build a caffeinated water brand. Cofounder Michael Moriarty saw an opening for a stripped-down energy drink: "Every single one felt like a super-sweet soda. The question that presented itself was just, why can't we just take the caffeine from these energy drinks and put in water? Give us what we want, which is the caffeine, with just the least amount of stuff in it."

Orka's clear can advertises its 150 milligrams of caffeine on the label. The transparent packaging signals that the product looks like water, not an energy drink — closer to a wellness product than a neon can.

How is caffeine branding changing?

Matt Sia, executive creative director at brand agency Pearlfisher, says most energy drinks package themselves with a "level of intensity": fluorescent colors, lightning bolts, high-speed vehicles. He expects that to fade because it "goes at odds with wellness and the health benefits that people are a lot more conscious of. It starts becoming a little bit less in your face and it starts becoming more the way that you would treat a supplement."

Sia points to Awake, the caffeinated chocolate maker, as a brand that broke the mold with packaging that feels "grounded" — rich but not lurid colors, and a wide-eyed owl instead of lightning bolts. "It felt a little bit less manufactured and a little bit less artificial," he says. On the shelf, Awake competes against chocolate brands, not energy drinks.

"The driving insight for us was really that we think functionality is the number one trend in all of food and beverage," says Adam Deremo, who cofounded Awake in 2012 and serves as CEO. "Consumers not only understood that functional benefits from your food and drink choices were possible, they're actually starting to become expected."

The founders scanned grocery aisles for products missing a functional angle and landed on chocolate, which the vast majority of households consume and which Deremo calls "the most fun, best-tasting delivery platform there is." They chose energy over relaxation or protein because repeated market research found people wanted more energy — and, per Deremo, "people have never had more of a need for focus."

The numbers back the bet:

• Awake's top seller is a bite-sized chocolate piece with 50 milligrams of caffeine — roughly half a cup of coffee — accounting for about 90% of the chocolate it sells.
• Earlier this year, Awake entered 2,000 7-Eleven stores.
• When soaring cocoa prices squeezed margins, Awake extended into trail mix: nuts, pretzels, dried fruit and its caffeinated chocolate chips, with 80 milligrams of caffeine per bag.

What is the FDA doing about it?

Regulators have noticed. The Food and Drug Administration announced over the summer that it made it a priority to publish guidance for labeling caffeine content in food and beverages by the end of the year.

In an emailed statement, the agency cited the "growing consumption of caffeinated beverages and foods . . . including in products where caffeine content may not be apparent to consumers." The guidance, the FDA said, "is intended to help consumers make informed decisions about their caffeine consumption, particularly as caffeine appears in a range of food and beverage products."

The move follows high-profile deaths linked to energy drink consumption, including the infamous "charged" lemonade at Panera.

Mark Christou, principal at brand agency CBX, says transparency is now a marketing asset, especially for newcomers: "They are proud to have what they have in their product, and they're not afraid of putting it on the front of their packaging."

Orka fits the pattern. "Everyone we know loves caffeine and has a specific amount they like," Moriarty says. The caffeine isn't something to hide. It's the whole point — and with FDA labeling guidance due by year-end, the brands betting on dosage transparency may find themselves ahead of the rulebook rather than behind it.