Have we reached peak ‘trend’ for food and drink new product development or is the sector on the cusp of a new horizon of innovation and transformation?
Food and drink trend predictions are ten-a-penny and often the same as last year, the one before and the one before that too. Albeit with a new name or jaunty twist.
It’s what some in the food and drink industry are calling ‘trendgation’ (the combination of trend and stagnation), where nothing new is happening so a different label is slapped on an old name to make it appear more exciting.
For at least a decade, trends have included street food, comfort food, fusion and customisation (or ‘quirky’ variations of), among others. And it’s a little dull, to be honest.
It’s also not a good reflection of what’s really going on in food manufacture.
Innovation is not a new flavour of ready meal
The trends do translate onto the supermarket shelves, with an increasing churn of ready meals, snacks and other products that are, kind of, in touch with those key themes. They’re also visible in the foodservice and restaurant space.
But innovation now is not a ready meal capturing a type of cuisine. Nor is that the future of the sector. What’s really happening in food and drink manufacture can’t be plastered with a fun label like Avocado Overload or Umami Cyclone and put on a shelf.
Consumers have become far more sophisticated than the twee categorisations in some reports. That’s because their needs are more complex than ever.
They want food that does more than satiate and provide energy – though they still do want that, but on a more complex level. Food and drink must now provide brain, muscle, gut and a host of other support. It must also stave off diseases, heal, prevent ill health and create the very best muscle gain.
I can promise you it will be more exciting than a new take on a shepherd’s pie. It will be a lot more intelligent than a pimp your own taco kit
FoodNavigator Editor, Nicholas Robinson
Though it’s not only what it does to the body and mind, there’s also the environmental, geopolitical and other serious factors needing to be thrown into the mix.
Food and drink must also overcome commodity shortages and price hikes today, as well as those predicted to occur three or 10 years down the line.
And that’s missed from trend reports because it’s not sexy, despite it being what consumers are snapping up.
Function is driving some of the biggest purchases in food and drink, with protein, gut health and, though still not nearly enough, added fibre.
GLP-1 crisps and turophiles
It’s the products that promise to save the planet, or are more affordable because an expensive commodity like cocoa has been subbed in with a more cost-effective alternative, without impacting taste or experience. It’s about high-quality nutrition being delivered at an affordable price.
Innovation hasn’t stagnated, it’s just taking a little longer to make its way out – it costs more time and resource to carefully shove all this function into a bottle or packet. Food technology has to catch up to make the innovations appear faster.
But it is coming.
And when it does come, I can promise you it will be more exciting than a new take on a shepherd’s pie. It will be a lot more intelligent than a pimp your own taco kit.
Arguably it’s already here and it’s the smaller, underfunded businesses that are bringing it. They’re producing ionised water, crisps that have have GLP-1 like properties and dairy-free cheese that is so convincing a turophile wouldn’t know the difference.
Yes we’ve reached trendgation, but we haven’t hit the brick wall when it comes to food and drink innovation. It’s just not as exposed as it should be.
