Diet Drugs Alter Big Food's Winning Recipe --- With GLP-1s threatening sales, companies test ways to win over the not-so-hungry

“Inside an Omaha test kitchen, executives at Conagra recently huddled over plastic trays of microwaved eggs, potatoes and sausage. One by one, they lifted a package of cheese sauce and poured out the liquid in a slow orange ribbon.

 

Ashley Lind, who heads behavior science at Conagra, studied the breakfast bowl in front of her. She considered: Was it satisfying?

 

No one had tasted the food yet. That was part of the point: Conagra is trying to design products that will entice even people who don't want to eat.

 

The tasting was one of dozens of tests the maker of Slim Jims and Hungry-Man dinners is conducting with an eye toward the conundrum presented by GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. The medications' power to erase feelings of hunger and satiation threatens to upend the industry's model for growth, where success has often meant selling as much food as possible.

 

For decades, food companies have relied on a proven playbook: cater to consumers' taste buds with sugar, salt and a steadily expanding galaxy of flavors. Fine-tuning products to cravings and indulgence has led critics to accuse food makers of hooking consumers on food and snacks the same way nicotine hooks smokers, and fueling an obesity epidemic.

 

But for America's biggest food makers, winning over GLP-1 users is a whole new challenge. "They just lose the craving, the desire for food," said Bob Nolan, Conagra's senior vice president of growth science. Since the drugs broke into the mainstream in 2023, Nolan and his team have been combing through credit-card data, social-media posts, fast food menus and late-night delivery orders to decipher what food might still appeal to GLP-1 users, and why.

 

As many as 55 million Americans, or 15% of the population, are expected to be on GLP-1 drugs by 2035, according to projections from Morgan Stanley. KPMG estimates users consume about one-fifth fewer calories while on the medications.

 

JPMorgan sees GLP-1 treatments draining the food and beverage industry of $30 billion to $55 billion in annual revenue as soon as 2030 -- a figure that works out to about three to five times Conagra's current yearly sales.

 

Big food companies are already in a tough spot. Consumers, squeezed by persistent inflation, are tightening their purse strings. Some have been turning away from processed foods, shifting to fresher fare on store perimeters. Others are gravitating toward premium alternatives from smaller companies, or cheaper store brands.

 

Many food industry executives and boards initially took a wait-and-see approach to the drugs, according to former employees from companies like Kraft Heinz and Kellanova, which is now owned by Mars. Some food makers have set up internal task forces and commissioned research, while betting that adding protein and fiber to existing products will insulate their brands.

 

With one in five U.S. households now including a GLP-1 user, doubled from the start of 2025 according to PwC, the drugs are increasingly hard to ignore.

 

"It's one of the most profound changes we'll ever see," said Barb Stuckey, an executive at food research and development firm Mattson, whose clients have included major food companies like Conagra.

 

The first versions of GLP-1 drugs were approved by the FDA in 2005, initially for managing type 2 diabetes. The drugs mimic a naturally occurring hormone responsible for functions like releasing insulin, slowing stomach emptying and suppressing hunger.

 

Their effectiveness at spurring weight loss catapulted their popularity. Ozempic was approved in 2017, followed by Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound. American spending on GLP-1s surged from $13.7 billion in 2018 to $71.7 billion in 2023, according to the American Medical Association.

 

In late 2023, Walmart's then-U.S. president, John Furner, mentioned in a Bloomberg interview that hunger suppressants had consumers buying "slightly less calories." Afterward, shares of big food companies slumped.

 

A few months later, Mattson, the California-based food developer, gathered a focus group of GLP-1 users who'd lost pounds in the double digits or more since starting the drugs.

 

One consistent theme: a newfound distaste for once-beloved food. "It almost felt like I was eating Styrofoam," Brian Merwin, a Pennsylvania food broker, told the group of his first few months of meals after he started taking Wegovy. "Nothing had really good flavor. I was almost forcing myself to eat."

 

A well-documented side effect of the drugs is called dysgeusia, which can produce an unpleasant, metallic taste in the mouth. Richard Doty, president of taste and smell tester company Sensonics International, said the scientific community hasn't figured out why GLP-1s alter taste.

 

For weight-loss drug users, not only do flavors not pop -- in some cases, spicy or fatty foods can contribute to discomfort and indigestion, said Doty, who is also a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school and previously spent over four decades leading its Smell and Taste Center.

 

"Certainly if people aren't enjoying eating as much, they aren't going to buy as much food," said Doty. Food companies running taste and smell tests on GLP-1 users are among his company's clients.

 

In a kitchen at Conagra's Omaha research and development lab, Holly Faivre and other company chefs tinker with basil, parsley, lemon and a hint of white wine to jazz up a frozen dinner. Faivre said the secret to recipes for family favorites is often lots of fat, salt and sugar.

 

Those ingredients happen to turn off those on weight-loss drugs. Bold spices could be another way to sharpen the taste, she said, but for the delicate constitutions of GLP-1 users, that's not a great option either.

 

Instead, Conagra is leaning on the appeal of cozy and nostalgic flavors. "Everyone has their mom's meatloaf or grandma's roast chicken, but how can we make this fit all of the boxes for GLP-1s?" she said.

 

When Conagra's vice president of culinary innovation Tom Frain first learned about growing adoption of GLP-1s, he envisioned being tasked with designing rabbit food made with kale and fiber supplements. Instead, he said that GLP-1 users seem to want foods they're familiar with, just in smaller portions and with more protein.

 

Doctors recommend that GLP-1 users increase their protein intake to stave off the muscle loss that comes with rapid calorie cutting. Upping the nutrient is a frequent topic of conversation among users on social media, which Conagra has been closely monitoring.

 

Frain, a trained chef, is now working on "protein hero" projects like a buffalo mac and cheese with 40 grams of the nutrient. To make the protein pop, Conagra designed a custom marinade and added grill marks to the chicken breast slices. A prototype for a frozen burrito with the same protein load was scrapped, because the tortilla couldn't hold that much filling.

 

A new "protein boost" recipe for Conagra's Duncan Hines chewy fudge brownie mix involves adding a cup of blended cottage cheese and a swirl of peanut butter. The combination gives the dessert twice the protein load, and boosts the calories, too.

 

The chefs serve their creations to Nolan and Lind, the Conagra consumer experts, and other employees, fresh out of the microwave or oven and often in the same disposable packaging a consumer would find on store shelves. Nolan said the company gave up on focus groups years ago, after a series of products went gangbusters among testers but flopped in the real world.

 

Conagra now has its own employees assess the prototypes on behalf of the average customer. Some of them are on GLP-1s themselves, Nolan said.

 

GLP-1 users' subdued urges and impulses pose a particular challenge for the racks of snacks sold in convenience stores and supermarket checkout aisles, where consumption often occurs within 30 minutes of purchase.

 

To keep catching consumers' eyes, Conagra is running word-association research studies to find what words and phrases best draw attention without sounding too clinical, like "good source of fiber" and "high in protein."

 

General Mills has turned to a different source for help understanding GLP-1 users: an AI-powered "digital persona" built from consumer interviews, social insights and sales data that employees quiz through a computer screen.

 

"Lisa" represents a woman in her late 30s or 40s with a long history of dieting. Since starting on weight-loss drugs, she is eating less, often miniature meals throughout the day. Protein and fiber are her top priorities, and because she juggles work and a family, she's looking for ready-to-eat, portion-controlled meals.

 

General Mills said Lisa's reactions to new product ideas echoed those of real consumers. That helped the company develop solutions in a fraction of the time usually required, including a new GLP-1-friendly brand debuting soon.

 

General Mills said GLP-1 users share some needs and behaviors with another of its personas. "Josh," a gym rat and "protein maximizer," said a bar needed more than 15 grams of protein to make it into his daily "stack." Based in part on that input, General Mills plans to test a new protein bar under a new brand called Prot Edge.

 

Stuckey, the Mattson executive, fields requests from some of the country's biggest food makers looking to miniaturize their products, or soup them up with protein or fiber. With few exceptions, she said, they stop short of overtly catering to weight-loss drug users.

 

Conagra, for one, doesn't see users driving enough demand yet to justify GLP-1-specific products. For now, the company is looking to wrap the needs of GLP-1 users into the general preferences of the growing number of health-conscious consumers. Last year, the company rolled out "GLP-1 Friendly" badges for its Healthy Choice line of frozen meals.

 

Kraft Heinz, the condiment giant, is zeroing in not just on GLP-1 users but also others in their households, whom executives refer to as "GLP-1 adjacent." The company is using influencers and others to suggest ways to zhuzh up home-cooked meals, for instance by topping protein with its lineup of dipping sauces.

 

Because the drugs are so new, there's also no clear answer as to how long the average GLP-1 user will stay on the medication. Early studies show patients generally return to their typical eating habits after they stop taking the drugs.

 

Still, new pill forms of the drugs, which previously had been administered via injections, and expanding health-plan coverage are set to make them more accessible and affordable. Overseas, cheaper generic versions are already hitting store shelves.

 

Some analysts believe that food companies are likely to feel most of the impact from GLP-1s in the near future, with heavy snackers also being the likeliest early adopters of the medications. While lighter eaters may wind up going on GLP-1s eventually, any shift in their food buying likely would have a smaller impact on industry sales, analysts said.

 

Conagra's team is already formulating products for 2028, keeping a close eye on new anti-obesity drugs currently winding their way through the patent pipeline.

 

Nolan, the Conagra demand scientist, has seen gluten-free, vegan, keto, low-carb and fat-free diets all wane and wax in popularity over the years. GLP-1s, he said, are different.

 

"Think of all the famous brands you see the ads for today -- there could be 200 more of these in five years," Nolan said of GLP-1 drugs. "These are here to stay."” [1]

 

1. Diet Drugs Alter Big Food's Winning Recipe --- With GLP-1s threatening sales, companies test ways to win over the not-so-hungry. McKee, Amira; Newman, Jesse.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 20 Aug 2026: A1.