McCormick & Company is extending its 2026 Flavor of the Year campaign into foodservice channels with back-to-back limited-time collaborations built around black currant, pairing the spice giant's proprietary seasonings with two specialty restaurant concepts starting August 3.
The two-partner rollout puts McCormick's Black Currant Finishing Sugar and Sweet & Smoky Black Currant Seasoning on menus in formats that convenience operators and foodservice buyers should track: a dessert pizza and a frozen yogurt — two categories gaining traction at nontraditional retail points, including the c-store forecourt-adjacent foodservice segment.
The Two LTOs
Phase one runs August 3 through August 31 at Prince St. Pizza, the 20-unit Sicilian-style chain with locations across the U.S. and Canada. The collaboration produces the chain's first-ever dessert pizza — The Black Currant Big Apple Pie Pizza — topped with McCormick Black Currant Finishing Sugar and a frosting drizzle. The item is available in-store and via nationwide delivery through UberEats and Postmates. Lawrence Longo, CEO of Prince St. Pizza, described the LTO as "a fun, nostalgic offering that's unlike anything we've done before," noting that the partnership pushed the brand into unfamiliar dessert territory.
Phase two launches August 31 and runs through September 28 at participating Go Greek Yogurt locations. The frozen yogurt brand is introducing a limited-edition black currant flavor built on its high-protein, probiotic-rich base — the same platform that positions Go Greek as a better-for-you alternative in the frozen dessert set. Tanja Subotic, Co-Founder of Go Greek Yogurt, cited the berry's tartness-sweetness balance as a natural match for Greek yogurt's tang.
Why Operators Should Watch
Black currant is not a new ingredient, but its recent momentum in trend forecasting signals a broader shift in how flavor innovation moves from the spice aisle to prepared foodservice. McCormick's annual Flavor Forecast — now in its 26th year — has a track record of pushing ingredients into foodservice and c-store prepared-food programs well before mainstream adoption peaks. Previous Forecast cycles accelerated operator uptake of items like gochujang and yuzu, both of which eventually appeared on convenience-channel roller grills and grab-and-go sets.
The black currant push is also notable for its delivery-channel specificity. Making the Prince St. Pizza LTO available through third-party delivery apps extends the product's reach well beyond the chain's 20 brick-and-mortar units — a distribution model that resonates with c-store operators experimenting with delivery partnerships to extend their own prepared-food dayparts.
Tabata Gomez, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer at McCormick, framed black currant as "a small-but-mighty berry that is bold, bright, and deliciously versatile," and positioned the collaborations as proof-of-concept for cross-category applications. For buyers and category managers, that versatility argument is the operative signal: a single flavor profile spanning pizza, frozen dessert, and McCormick's own retail seasoning line suggests a supplier already doing the menu-engineering work for potential operator partners.
McCormick's Black Currant Finishing Sugar and Sweet & Smoky Naturally Flavored Black Currant Seasoning are currently available at retail through the company's website.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
