19 Aug 2024
The Channel Marketing Team at Puratos is responsible for working alongside the sales team to assist with customer strategies, business planning, and tracking trending consumer insights. In the fast-paced everchanging world of the food industry, trends and consumer preferences are constantly changing. Staying up to date on the latest innovations is crucial to assist our customers, providing feedback and insights to help grow potential business and maintain global perspective on the food industry.
The team does so through consistent monitoring of trustworthy resources that are able track and gauge insights from a variety of consumers and global culinary industry leaders. On top of this, Puratos uses data from our in-house consumer insight database that gathers information from over 17,000 consumers and industry experts in more than 50 countries. Along with using Semantic Ai programs to gather online consumer data and spot global trends, which is all backed up by research partnerships and comprehensive sensory testing. Learn more about Taste Tomorrow here.
Learn more about some of the resources the channel marketing team utilizes.
Innova Market Insights- Through partnerships with leading research corporations Innova Solutions offers data and analytics for retail, consumer packaged goods, and hospitality. The insights range from finding previous data to forecasting future trends.
Numerator- A platform that uses proprietary data with a panel of over one million US consumers to create unique insights helping identify customers and potential growth opportunities.
Technomic- Built specifically to assist foodservice members with research, insights, and consulting support to enhance business strategies, decisions, and results.
By using this technology, the team has been able to highlight these 3 trends for the second half of 2024, and how retail, artisan, and industry customers could possibly be affected by them.
Check out some of these trending New Flavors
Consumers are expanding their palettes and looking forward to new experiences. 69% of consumers globally like to try food in new formats, showing a growing curiosity and willingness to explore beyond traditional dishes. Additionally, 66% are eager to taste exotic flavors from different parts of the world, reflecting a desire to connect with diverse cultures. 65% are interested in trying new or unusual combinations of tastes, highlighting an adventurous spirit.
Floral Flavors:
1 in 4 consumers in the US and Canada have looked for more floral flavors in food and beverage categories over the past year. The fastest growing flower flavors in new launches are Linden blossom, honeysuckle, and chamomile. 52% of consumers in the US and Canada say food that has botanical flavors is often good for their health.
Vintage Flavors:
44% of consumers in the US and Canada say that traditional/ nostalgic flavors most influence their food and beverage choice. This has influenced a 19% average annual growth of new food and beverage launches with the words “nostalgia” or “nostalgic” on the packaging.
Fantasy Flavors:
1 in 4 consumers in the US and Canada have looked for more floral flavors in food and beverage categories over the past year. The fastest growing flower flavors in new launches are Linden blossom, honeysuckle, and chamomile. 52% of consumers in the US and Canada say food that has botanical flavors is often good for their health.
The Social Media Effect
Many consumers especially Gen Z are taking to social media to post about what they are eating. The importance of aesthetically pleasing food has never been greater with 64% of consumers globally agreeing that food that looks good is tasty too. The rise of the internet influencer has created a space for those interested in the culinary world to gain a following by simply posting what they’ve been eating. 48% of consumers globally say that sharing food experiences online helps to connect with likeminded people. Those getting posted about can receive an abundance of attention which translates to more popularity and possibly more business, driving those to stride and create an aesthetically pleasing and trend worthy products.
According to influencer.com in 2023 #food has tallied over 555 billion views on TikTok, this high viewership caused a significant outcome within the food and beverage industry. Following a trend set by a cooking influencer in 2021 utilizing feta cheese amassed over 515 million views under the hashtag feta cheese, news channels began reporting a feta cheese shortage due to the amount of viewers trying the recipe. While Instacart data showed there wasn’t a shortage of feta, the demand was abnormally high, leaving feta as the number one trending search on the platform.
Health and Well Being in Quick Breakfast
With inflation and rising prices hitting consumers at the grocery stores, a growing awareness of purchases is taking place. Many are looking for justification with their selection causing a shift towards more healthy and convenient options. Quick breakfast launches have historically hovered around 3% of total food and beverage launches with 79 new products being launched in 2022. Within those launches claims on packaging tend to consist of whole grain with 37% of quick breakfast launches using it, high protein claims were advertised on 30% of new launches, and no additive claims are at 25%.
As many return to the office following the pandemic, handheld bars, sandwiches, and snacks are increasingly becoming more popular. On top of that traditionally warmed breakfast products like frozen waffles, pancakes, and oatmeal have been seeing new releases as ready to eat on the go formats. Even many breakfast cuisines from around the world are taking off in a quick breakfast format with African flavors increasing 13% CAGR in the quick breakfast category.
Industry
The use of new and popular flavors can help keep brands at the forefront of shelves and talked about frequently by consumers. By enhancing preexisting products or even launching completely new lines with the latest trending flavors, those within the industry channel can shift to target the growing population of Gen Z consumers who want to experience new and interesting flavors. (expand more?)
Artisan
Well-designed food is seen as a mark of skill and craftsmanship, oftentimes the staples of artisan food service. By enhancing the aesthetic principles of products, those within the artisan channel have an advantage, tapping into viral social media food trends and creating visually stunning products to appeal to an online audience that is increasingly eating with their eyes and cameras as well. Remain up to date with industry trends as well as what is taking place on social media through utilizing hashtags, viewing related content associated with them, and even following content creators and influencers within the culinary scene.
Retail
For those making products that consumers see in the bread aisle and fresh bakeries in grocery stores, many may observe a larger shift in the health focused, on the go options. Consumers are taking more time to observe what values their purchases hold, proving the possibility that an interest in quick breakfasts will be sustained by claims of whole grains, high protein, high fiber, and low sugar. As consumers juggle increasingly busy lives, handheld and snackable breakfast options will continue to flourish. Plant-based claims are experiencing the fastest growth among ingredient health claims, with a 26% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2018 to 2022 in quick breakfast launches. Given the health and environmental awareness of Generation Z and Millennials, plant-based quick breakfasts are poised to remain popular and continue evolving.
