On 18 November we hosted our second annual Food Trends Event to help announce trend predictions for the coming years - and once again we can look back on a hugely successful and rewarding day with a superb array of guests, some inspirational and insightful speakers, and of course a wide variety of delicious, trend inspired food and drink.
This year's event was held at Bruno Loubet's Grain Store, King's Cross, and combined food and industry leaders together with inspirational speakers, in addition we also announced our 2016/17 Food & Drink Trend Predictions and unveiled the new trends book.
This year the trend predictions include 5 Macro Consumer trends, 10 Food and Beverage mega trends and over 100 sub trends as well as influencing cuisines and ingredients. Here is the 2016-17 trends map, check out this years trends infographics for more details.
The 10 Food and Beverage mega trends and the 100+ sub trends that sit beneath them are the full granular outlook for Food and Beverage for 16-17 but what will be hot? What will be be talking about? We've compiled our hot trends list in an infographic but here's a summary of where we believe the buzz will be...
- Dine out in, the Uber effect - expect our eating out scene to continue to evolve as the way we eat out changes and the aggregators own the relationship and diners have a proliferation of choice.
- Look out for more bowl food from globalised ramen, bircher bowls to acai smoothie bowls - comforting, informal, beautiful, even plates are now bowls.
- We continue to 'Sweet Clean' as sugar continues to be demonized and we search –to 'lighten up' the sweetening of food & drinks with less processed alternatives such as tree syrups, dates and honey.
- The "last mile" of our grocery food system will look different in the next decade. The intersection of tech and food will bring creative solutions for food selection, delivery and shopping. We're already seeing signs of this with the growth of companies like Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, Amazon Fresh & Plated.
- Plant centric steps up and becomes centre plate – Fundamental shifts in consumers eating habits both in and out of home towards a plant based way of eating is emerging, which is not confined to the traditional vegetarianism or veganism. Plant and vegetable based meals and ingredients are fast becoming the fashionable, healthy & ethical choice.
- Extreme Indulgences – Watch out for the backlash of health as extreme indulgences begin to pop up. From over-the-top hybrid milkshakes topped with donuts to loaded cheesy-meaty fries…they are extreme.
- Souping is the new juicing – Consumers love of juices is going one step further as they seek more texture and fiber from their fruits & veggies. From sipping on bone broths to gazpacho's and meat teas.
- Look out for a greater influence from the Lifestyle Health Guru – from Deliciously Ella and the Hemsley sisters to Madeline Shaw and Milie Mackintosh, the Lifestyle Health Guru is the latest food hero to influence the way we eat and drink in an aspirational and relevant way.
- When it comes to chilli its going behind incendiary hot to more complex chilli blends such as Shichimi-Togarashi from Japan, sweet spicy Gochujang from Korea, Tsire from West Africa or Berbere from Ethiopia. Although hot hot is still hot with 'Nashville Hot' the latest hot sauce to be splashed over fried chicken.
- Black's the new Black when it comes to colour – not only as a varietal colour in the vegetable world but salad and vegetables blackened over fire, scorched bread and pizza, squid ink colouring, activated charcoal drink and black rice – its all black!
- When it comes to cuisines Mexican cuisine is capturing the imagination of top chefs around the world as explore authenticity or add a splash of Mexican inspiration into their dishes. Also look out for Filipino with its many influences—Malaysian, Polynesian, Hispanic, Chinese, American—the variety of flavors and techniques that you find in Filipino cooking is exceptionally rich. The results can be spicy, sweet, or bracingly tart—or all of the above in one mouthful.
- Market Driven Reinvented – chefs as farmers, whats available driving whats on the menu, chefs getting more involved in their supply chain and if not farming themselves then partnering with producers to use whats best today without waste using stem to root and nose to tail.
- And finally local Heritage re-framed – a new twist on local and regional with indigenous edible identities – lost ingredients, dishes, techniques and processes but with a splash of contemperisation.
Maintaining relevance is more important than ever, really understanding who your customers are is key. We've worked on a number of projects during last year to explore the world of millenials and believe me their values, ethics, expectations, relationships with each other as well as with their food are very different. A brilliant example is Screamin Sicilian a pizza brand in the US, developed by millennials for millennials – maintaining relevance is critical.
To find out more about the 2016-17 food and beverage trend predictions and how you can utilise this inspirational and thought provoking food trend content through the eyes of 'your' business, brand or category, drop us a line by Clicking Here!
If you'd like a print ready version of the infographic, Click Here! and we'll get one sent over.
To see all of our infographics Click Here!