Food trends among Asia’s middle–upper spending class (2023–2026)

Status: Partial but usable — sourced from inspected primary and trade reports (Bain/NielsenIQ, IWSR, USDA FAS, Marriott F&B survey, PwC Voice of the Consumer, FoodNavigator/NIQ). Full Euromonitor, Mintel, and McKinsey China PDFs were paywalled or blocked. “Middle–upper spending class” is not a standard statistical category; this note uses affluent, upper-middle, and premium shoppers as they appear in those sources, and flags when a figure is total-market rather than cohort-specific.

Date compiled: 15 September 2026

Direct answer

Asia’s middle–upper spenders are not uniformly “trading up.” They are polarizing: paying more where food signals health, craft, identity, or experience, and hunting value everywhere else. In hotels and restaurants, luxury is shifting from formal tasting menus to fine-casual, sensory, locally rooted dining. In grocery, the same households want convenient, healthier, often local products, with premium snacks, sugar-free drinks, functional nutrition, and specialty coffee still commanding a price. Alcohol is splitting by country: China is stepping down from prestige bottles toward casual cocktails and RTDs; India is the opposite — premium-plus spirits are booming. Local and Asian brands have largely erased the old foreign-brand halo. There is no single pan-Asian playbook.

Who this cohort is

The group is large, urban, and poorly standardized across countries.

• Asia could be home to a middle class of almost 3.5 billion people by 2030 (Australian DFAT, cited in FHA). That is a middle-class figure, not specifically the upper-middle or affluent tail.
• India’s middle class is expanding at about 6.3% a year and is projected at 38% of the population by 2031 (Kantar, cited by The Drinks Business, March 2025). Pernod Ricard India’s MD describes younger urban drinkers as “drink less, drink better.”
• Singapore is the region’s most mature affluent food market: USDA FAS (Nov 2025) values retail food at US$12 billion and foodservice/HRI at US$10 billion in 2024, with GDP per capita about US$90,689. USDA explicitly attributes premium demand to high disposable incomes, a well-travelled population, and a large expatriate community.
• China remains the scale market even after a consumption slowdown. USDA FAS (Sep 2025) puts 2024 foodservice at US$773.9 billion (+5.3%) and retail food at US$431.9 billion. Bain/Worldpanel show 2024 FMCG spending growth nearly flat (+0.8%) with volume +4.4% and average selling prices −3.4% — a deflationary, value-seeking year, not a luxury boom.

Implication: “Middle–upper” in Singapore or Tokyo is not the same shopper as “upper-middle” in Jakarta or a Tier-2 Chinese city. Polarization (premium and value) is the common pattern; the mix of categories that get the premium is local.

The governing pattern: polarization, not a single premiumization wave

Bain and NielsenIQ’s Asia-Pacific Consumer Products Report 2025 is the cleanest statement of this:

• APAC FMCG value grew 4% in the year to June 2025 (2.8% volume, 1.2% price) — more volume-led than North America or Western Europe.
• Growth is diverging: India +7.2% in 2024 and +13.7% in H1 2025; Southeast Asia slowed to 1.8% in H1 2025 (from 3.5% in 2024); China rebounded from 2.8% (2024) to 4.7% (H1 2025), mostly online.
• Across eight CPG categories in six markets, no country showed consistent trade-down in every category, and no category showed the same pricing trend in every country. Shoppers cut spend in some aisles and pay up in others.
• China is trending toward deflation; India toward premiumization.

NielsenIQ’s Craig Houliston (Growth Asia Summit, Singapore, July 2025) described the same split as market bifurcation: large shares of consumers expect to be either better or worse off a year from now, so luxury and economy both matter more than the old mainstream middle. Categories where APAC consumers will still pay a premium: health, pets, and beauty.

Bain’s Crisis of Value (Feb 2025) adds the brand-side consequence: the foreign-brand halo in premium has faded. Local players now match quality. Foreign brands lost 2 percentage points of China FMCG share (31% → 29%, 2019–2023) across 26 categories. In Southeast Asia, the top 35 non-APAC FMCG companies lost share over five years, worst in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

Dining out: luxury gets casual, local, and theatrical

The best affluent-dining evidence is Marriott International’s Future of Food 2026, based on 30+ chefs/mixologists and an F&B survey of 270 properties in 20 Asia-Pacific markets (released Oct 2025). Hotel guests are a proxy for travellers and upper-spend locals, not the whole urban middle class.

Chefs from Singapore to Tokyo are plating comfort food with fine-dining technique (the report’s emblem: caviar-topped fried chicken). Traditional multi-course menus are giving way to à la carte and faster, more flexible formats. Bars are following with low- or no-alcohol lists, omakase-style cocktails, and native infusions.

Fine dining has not disappeared. It has been reframed around place and story rather than European formality. Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 put Gaggan (Bangkok) at No. 1; Tokyo still had the most entries (nine), Hong Kong seven, Singapore seven (down from nine). Emerging culinary destinations named by Marriott/SCMP coverage include Bali, Busan/Jeju, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Mumbai, Niseko, and Shanghai.

China foodservice (USDA, 2024): US$773.9 billion, +5.3%, but growth has slowed and consumers are more cautious. Singapore HRI: USDA flags tourism recovery (16.5 million visitors, US$23 billion visitor spending in 2024) and calls the city a launch pad for F&B concepts — with notable price sensitivity even in a high-income market.

Shift toward: fine-casual, omakase and sensory rooms, local terroir, chef-driven hawker/heritage, plant-forward options, bars as wellness/experience spaces. Shift away from: stiff multi-course Western fine dining as the only luxury signal; long degustations as the default special-occasion format.

Grocery and at-home: convenience + health, with a premium aisle that is selective

Region-wide

NielsenIQ’s “Dining into the APAC Food Trends” (2023–2025 update, published via FHA, Nov 2025) groups behaviour under three themes:

1. Simple Solutions — frozen and ready-to-eat. APAC frozen food (RTE/frozen meals, bakery, desserts, vegetables, seafood) was US$66.38 billion in 2024, forecast US$109.88 billion by 2030.
2. Personal Excitements — snacks/confectionery US$89.54 billion in 2025, ~8.23% annual growth through 2030, with a premium slice (single-origin chocolate, exotic fruit, gourmet nuts, limited editions). 37% of APAC consumers say they are more likely to buy a brand for nutritional benefits.
3. Sustainable Consumption — plant-based and recycled packaging. 45% say they will buy more recycled packaging in the next 6–12 months.

These are total-market figures. The affluent overlay is that premium snacks, clean-label, and functional benefits are the parts of those categories that hold price.

China: value-seeking majority, membership clubs for the better-off

USDA FAS China Retail Foods (Sep 2025) and Bain/Worldpanel (China Shopper 2025 vol. 1) together describe a two-speed grocery market:

• Total retail sales of consumer goods US$6.8 trillion in 2024 (+3.5%); Q1 2025 +4.6%.
• Value-driven purchases dominated, especially outside top cities. Hypermarkets struggled (only 38% nationwide in positive growth). Convenience stores and membership/warehouse clubs (Sam’s Club inside Walmart China) outperformed.
• Walmart China led supermarket sales at US$22.1 billion (334 stores), driven by Sam’s Club. HeMa Fresh: US$10.4 billion, 420 stores, expanding into lower-tier cities.
• Instant retail (30–60 minute delivery) is disrupting JD, Alibaba, and Meituan; Bain/NIQ project China’s quick-commerce market at US$120–150 billion by end-2025, with FMCG about half of GMV.
• Packaged food 2024: value +2.0%, volume +2.7%, premiumization stalled (ASP −0.6%). Instant noodles led on convenience. Nutrition supplements +6.2% value / +16.2% volume with falling ASP (cheap local insurgents).
• Beverage 2024: juice +19.1% (health + higher ASP); instant coffee traded up (ASP +7%); milk and yogurt declined; sugar-free RTD tea took share from high-sugar brands (Master Kong, Wong Lo Kat).
• Q1 2025: packaged food +3.2%, beverage only +0.5% as volume gains were offset by −4.0% ASP. Health-linked segments (100% juice, sugar-free) remained the strongest beverage drivers.

For the middle–upper Chinese household, the practical picture is: shop Sam’s Club / Hema / quick commerce for quality and convenience; trade down on undifferentiated packaged food; still pay up for coffee, juice, functional drinks, and supplements that feel like health.

Singapore: a true affluent grocery market, with a value streak

USDA FAS Singapore (Nov 2025):

• Retail food US$12 billion; consumer-oriented imports US$11.1 billion.
• High disposable income drives demand for premium products, plus imported meats, premium fruits, wines, spirits, beers, pet food, halal, organic, and specialty.
• Channel mix (Euromonitor via USDA): supermarkets 47%, small grocers 16%, food/drink/tobacco 12%, hypermarkets 10%, convenience 8%, e-commerce 6%.
• Formats are income-stratified: FairPrice Finest and Macrovalue/Cold Storage, CS Gold, Jason’s, Giant gourmet target middle and upper income; Sheng Siong and hypermarkets sit lower. Specialty layer: Don Don Donki, Meidi-Ya, Isetan, Shine Korea, SO France, organic/wholefood shops (Scoops, Culina, Huber’s, Supernature, etc.).
• Post-pandemic, USDA still records strong demand for premium and artisanal products and an upward quality trade — and rising brand switching, private-label growth, and “value-for-money” hunting as food prices stay high.

That coexistence — premium and private label — is the affluent-Asian grocery signature in a mature, expensive city.

India

USDA FAS India Retail Foods (2025): food retail about US$869 billion in 2025 (~7% annual growth); US$8.4 billion of consumer-oriented food imports in 2024. Growth pockets named for exporters: online grocery, frozen food, premium chocolates, healthy snacks, functional drinks. UK–India FTA cuts Scotch/gin tariffs from 150% to 75% immediately, then to 40% over ten years — a direct premium-alcohol supply shock.

Bain/NIQ: India is the APAC CPG growth engine and, unlike China, shows clear premiumization.

Health, wellness, and “better for you”

This is the strongest pan-Asian demand among middle and upper spenders — with a catch: they want health at a price they will defend.

NielsenIQ (Growth Asia Summit 2025):

• 53% of APAC consumers are consciously trying to improve their health, and this is one of the few areas they will increase spending.
• Food prices are a top-three concern in almost every APAC market except China.
• 65% say manufacturers and retailers should make healthier products more affordable.
• Houliston’s phrase: the sweet spot is “everyday, affordable health” — health + wealth + convenience.
• Localization of purchases since 2022 is growing ~0.5% a year, mostly because local is cheaper, except South Korea, where 81% buy local because they believe quality is better.

NIQ Health & Wellness regional companion (China, India, Indonesia vs global, 2025 survey):

• 69% say healthy nutrition is more important now than five years ago (vs 58% globally).
• 54% plan to buy more probiotic foods (vs 39% global); 72% more high-fibre; 56% more superfoods.
• 52% willing to pay over 10% more for organic / non-GMO / all-natural (vs 31% global).
• 40% willing to pay over 10% more for higher animal-welfare / cruelty-free (vs 30% global).
• Ultra-processed-food stigma is weaker than in the West (only 5% “very negative” vs 15% global).

China shopper data matches this: juice, functional drinks, sugar-free tea, nutrition supplements, and instant-coffee trade-up are the F&B winners. High-sugar RTD tea is the loser.

Plant-based: widely named as a trend in FHA/Nielsen commentary and Marriott dietary-request data. Hard affluent-specific volume evidence is thinner in open sources. Treat plant-forward menus as real in premium dining; treat retail alt-meat as still niche and price-sensitive, not a mass affluent staple.

Sustainability as a purchase driver: PwC 2024 Voice of the Consumer (7,279 APAC respondents across 11 territories):

• 88% of APAC consumers say they experience climate disruption in daily life (global 85%).
• APAC respondents said they would pay nearly 11% above average for sustainable products (global 9.7%). Highest stated premiums: Philippines 13.4%, India and Indonesia 13.1%.
• PwC itself warns stated premiums may not convert under inflation. NIQ’s “ESG preference–action gap” (APAC CPG report) is the matching caution: consumers focus first on what is good for me.

Beverages: China down-trades prestige; India premiumizes; RTDs and coffee hold

Alcohol (IWSR, 2025 data release)

APAC total beverage alcohol volumes −2%, value −3% in 2024. Only RTDs grew volumes (+1%). Beer −3%, spirits −2%, wine −4%.

IWSR’s Greater China research director: China’s premium slowdown looks cyclical — consumers re-rank value, casual occasions, and relevance over prestige. Forecast to 2034: beer flat, RTDs +2% CAGR, sparkling wine +5%, still wine flat, spirits −1% (or +2% excluding baijiu).

India is the structural contrast. Pernod Ricard India: younger drinkers want less but better; IWSR expects India to become the world’s largest bottled-Scotch market by 2027 and a top-three TBA value market by 2032.

Non-alcohol

• China instant coffee is premiumizing (ASP +7% in 2024; freeze-dried and ready-to-mix brands with higher ASP than classic 3-in-1).
• Sugar-free RTD tea is taking share from heritage high-sugar brands.
• 100% juice is a multi-year growth category.
• Hotel bars: low/no-ABV and native-ingredient cocktails (Marriott 2026).
• Japan/Korea: RTDs as the affluent-casual everyday drink, not only a youth fad.

Regional map (what differs)

East Asia

China. Dual motion: consumption downgrade in undifferentiated grocery and prestige alcohol; selective premium in membership retail (Sam’s Club), specialty coffee, juice, functional drinks, nutrition, and experience dining. Local brands winning. Quick commerce and livestream (Douyin 12.5% of e-comm, ~one-third of online retail via live) are how this cohort shops, not only how the mass market shops. Foodservice still huge but cautious.

Japan. Marriott’s fine-casual story is explicitly Singapore-to-Tokyo. Alcohol volumes slightly down; RTDs are the growth category. Convenience and craft remain structural, not a 2024 fad.

South Korea. USDA GAIN (Jan 2026, “2025 Trends in South Korea Food Sector”): 2025 industry themes were K-culture collaborations, retro products, and health / “slow aging” (high-protein, low-sugar — e.g. CJ Hetbahn Rice Plan, Ottogi high-protein cup noodles). NIQ: Koreans uniquely buy local for quality, not price.

Hong Kong / Singapore (city-state affluent dining). Still over-indexed in Asia’s 50 Best. Singapore USDA: premium demand is real, but so is price sensitivity, private label, and brand switching. Macrovalue/Cold Storage gourmet banners and Japanese/Korean/French specialty stores are the middle–upper grocery stack.

Southeast Asia

Not one market. Bain: SEA CPG slowed. IWSR: Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam alcohol +2%, with cocktail culture and tourism supporting value (not just volume). Marriott flags Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam as culinary hotspots; third-generation chefs and “hawkerpreneurs.” Local F&B giants (Mayora in Indonesia) win mass; Chinese dairy/snack firms (Yili, Mengniu) are localizing into ice cream and probiotics. Halal, dietary filters on GrabFood, and regional flavour SKUs (e.g. salted-egg snacks) are table stakes, not differentiators.

Singapore remains the regional F&B lab and import hub, not a template for Jakarta or Manila.

India / South Asia

The only large market in this set where premiumization is the headline, not the exception: CPG value growth, premium-plus alcohol +19%, Scotch and gin FTA tailwind, premium chocolate and functional drinks in USDA’s opportunity list. Constraint: state-by-state alcohol regulation and food inflation (Reuters, Nov 2024: food inflation over 8% squeezed middle-class QSR/snack spend). The upper-middle urban household is stretching into premium spirits and packaged treats; the broader middle class is still inflation-sensitive.

What this cohort spends on, values, and is leaving behind

Pays up for

• Health they can feel: sugar-free, protein, fibre, probiotics, functional drinks, supplements.
• Experience dining: fine-casual, omakase, sensory rooms, local story.
• Craft and origin in small categories: specialty coffee, premium snacks, Scotch (India), membership-club imported groceries (China, Singapore).
• Convenience that does not feel cheap: frozen/RTE quality, 30-minute grocery, meal kits.
• Local brands that now match MNC quality (especially China, Korea, Indonesia).

Trades down or walks away from

• Formal Western fine dining as the only special-occasion script.
• Prestige cognac, gifting baijiu, and US$100+ “status spirits” in China.
• High-sugar legacy RTD teas and undifferentiated dairy.
• Foreign logos as automatic quality (the halo is gone).
• Hypermarkets and undifferentiated mainstream SKUs.
• Paying a sustainability premium unless it is also healthier, local, or cheaper.

Values (in order of evidence strength)

1. Health + value (“wealth and health”) — strongest, repeated across NIQ, Bain, China shopper data.
2. Convenience without shame — frozen, q-commerce, convenience stores, membership clubs.
3. Identity and place — local ingredients, heritage chefs, K-culture, regional flavours.
4. Experience over ceremony — sensory dining, cocktail bars, social discovery.
5. Sustainability — high stated WTP (PwC ~11% APAC), weaker proven conversion (NIQ action gap).

Figures at a glance (tagged total-market vs affluent-relevant)

Coverage, gaps, and how to read this

Inspected and used: Bain APAC CPG 2025; Bain China Shopper 2025 vol. 1; Bain Crisis of Value; IWSR APAC 2025; USDA FAS Retail Foods China (CH2025-0193) and Singapore (SN2025-0005); USDA GAIN Korea 2025 food-sector summary; Marriott Future of Food 2026 (multiple trade write-ups of the same survey); NielsenIQ via FHA and FoodNavigator; PwC Voice of the Consumer 2024 (global press release + APAC/Vietnam/Thailand snapshots in search); The Drinks Business (Pernod Ricard India; IWSR India).

Not obtained (paywall, ASN block, or DNS): full Euromonitor and Mintel tables; McKinsey China “Year of the Horse” and mid-year PDFs; NielsenIQ.com HTML; PwC APAC landing page; Luxury Travel Advisor; some USDA HTML (Korea). Search snippets from McKinsey (e.g. 200 million upper-middle-income households in China in 2025) were not treated as verified because the page was not opened.

Definitional caveat: Almost no open source splits F&B spend by income quintile for 2023–2026 across these countries. Hotel F&B surveys over-weight travellers. FMCG trackers mix mass and affluent. Where a claim is really “urban APAC shopper,” it is labelled that way.

Plant-based, organic market size, and fine-dining revenue remain weakly quantified in open data. Do not treat Statista-via-FHA meat-substitute figures as affluent-Asia evidence.

Sources

1. Bain & Company and NielsenIQ, Asia-Pacific Consumer Products Report 2025 (Nov 2025). https://www.bain.com/insights/asia-pacific-consumer-products-report-2025/
2. Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel, China Shopper Report 2025, vol. 1 (Jun 2025). https://www.bain.com/insights/china-shopper-report-2025-volume-1/
3. Bain & Company, A Crisis of Value in China and Southeast Asia (Feb 2025). https://www.bain.com/insights/a-crisis-in-value-in-china-and-southeast-asia/
4. IWSR, APAC redux: fresh opportunities in an evolving region (12 Jun 2025). https://www.theiwsr.com/insight/apac-redux-fresh-opportunities-in-an-evolving-region/
5. USDA FAS GAIN, Retail Foods Annual — Singapore (SN2025-0005, 19 Nov 2025).
6. USDA FAS GAIN, Retail Foods Annual — China (CH2025-0193, 30 Sep 2025).
7. USDA FAS GAIN, South Korea: 2025 Trends in South Korea Food Sector (KS2026-0002, 29 Jan 2026) — summary via FAS listing.
8. Marriott International, The Future of Food 2026, as reported by Asian Itinerary (14 Oct 2025) and PEAK Singapore (8 Nov 2025). https://asianitinerary.com/marriott-future-of-food-2026/
9. NielsenIQ via FHA, Dining into the APAC Food Trends (15 Nov 2025). https://www.foodnhotelasia.com/fha-insider/dining-into-the-apac-food-trends/
10. FoodNavigator / NielsenIQ, Affordable health is the sweet spot (15 Jul 2025). https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2025/07/15/affordable-health-is-sweet-spot-driving-apac-food-and-nutrition-growth/
11. PwC, 2024 Voice of the Consumer Survey (15 May 2024) and APAC snapshots (Vietnam, Thailand).
12. The Drinks Business, “India’s rapidly-growing middle class is thirsty for premium alcohol” (10 Mar 2025); “IWSR: India and SE Asia are the region’s next bright spots” (16 Jun 2025).
13. FHA, What Asia’s Middle-Class Wants From Food Brands in 2025 and Beyond (3 Jun / 26 Aug 2025). https://www.foodnhotelasia.com/blog/fnb/middle-class-food-preferences-in-asia/
14. Bloomberg, Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 (25 Mar 2025).
15. The Spirits Business, “High-end spirits plunge 28% in China” (30 Oct 2025), citing IWSR Status Spirits Strategy Study.