A regular feature in shopping carts from coast to coast, the humble banana has long been a reliable source of nutrition, convenience, and affordability. Yet beneath its cheerful exterior lies a complex tale of botanical intrigue, economic uncertainty, and environmental peril.
Supply Side East 2024: consumers are health-conscious and looking for products to support their well-being.
The newly minted CEO isn’t oblivious to Mountain Mike’s challenges in its crowded sector. For example, Metevier knows he needs to be sensitive to labor costs now that his California-based chain must deal with that state’s recent implementation of a $20 minimum wage (85% of the chains locations are based within the Golden State.)
Some of the takeaways from the Circana report indicate that inflation has generally gone pretty easy on the beverage category, prompting marketing teams to “promote their relative price stability and find ways to demonstrate value, recognizing that ‘value’ doesn’t always mean lower price,” and that premium categories continue to outperform more value-based brand propositions.
Foxtrot and Dom’s Kitchen & Market have closed their doors effective immediately. The closure will affect 33 Foxtrot locations and 2 Dom’s locations across Chicago, Austin, Dallas and D.C. areas.
Branded produce companies are dressing up their fruits and veggies to woo online shoppers, tout attributes, and leverage storytelling.
Today’s consumers seek snacks that not only satisfy but also nourish, blending convenience with balanced nutrition and illustrated by the emergence of breakfast bars and protein snack boxes.
“A lot of people see beef as a premium meat and associate it with things like prosperity and masculinity. Beef is also incredibly rich in fat and protein, so our bodies are primed to crave it,” Rall said, noting federal subsidies, restaurant menus, and advertising all reinforce beef’s place “in our grocery stores and on our table.”
Many consumers are less concerned about material possessions and are instead turning toward experiences for fulfillment, sparking a resurgence of the so-called “experience economy,” which is also evident in food and snacking choices. In the …
Through its unique product offerings and strategic influencer partnerships, Kodiak Cakes has differentiated itself and created a strong brand persona that resonates deeply with modern consumers.
After an endless shrimp fiasco, Red Lobster is reportedly considering a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to restructure its debt.
Among CPG energy drink brands, Celsius over-indexes with teens, with 17% citing it as their favorite energy drink brand (vs. ~12% market share) while Monster and Red Bull under-index. Among snack brands, Campbell’s Goldfish are still most preferred. Teens report highest intentions to eat more or the same amount of Mondelez’s Clif Bar and Hershey’s products.
The future of checkout technology, consumer perception and adoption, and operator success is a tricky set of balls to keep in the air all at once.
The global gluten-free products market continues to show noteworthy growth. with brands such as Mightylicious cracked the code.
While the rest of us were getting our morning jolt from a decent cuppa, decaf drinkers quietly (and deliciously) infiltrated the greater consumer market. Skyquest Technology recently predicted that the decaf coffee market will continue to grow to a $28.86 billion industry by the end of the decade.
Other noteworthy shifts include the emergence of Gen Z and Gen Alpha as influential consumer groups. These young consumers are influencing market trends such as the push for labeling transparency and ethical production.
The celebrity chef, who appeared on Food Network’s Restaurant: Impossible show between 2011 and 2023, fears that as many as one-fifth of all American “mom-and-pop” restaurants could be forced to close by year’s end due to rising labor costs.
For starters, the global demographic landscape is undergoing a noteworthy transformation, with “second lifers” – those embarking on new chapters post-retirement – emerging as a powerful group of consumers. By 2050, the over-60 demographic is expected to double. This shift is pushing the market towards balanced nutrition.
The statistics send a clear message: consumers the world over are searching for functional foods and beverages in 2024
Magic Spoon cereal is twice as expensive as most other name brands. Many regard its flavor as questionable and its better-for-you status isn’t as rock solid as consumers would like to believe.
Co-Branding is a powerful tool to pique consumer interest, from Oreo and Breyers Ice Cream, to Mike’s Hot Honey and Lou Malnati’s pizza,
The restaurant is an outlier in another way: no tipping. Instead, staff are paid what Canlis said is a high hourly wage. The change in schedules will not affect salaries.
Across the US, inflation-weary consumers continue to push back on years of price hikes, cooking from home or simply buying less to save more.
Advanced plastic recycling remains a dream for many F&B companies, but Nestle, for one, plans to implement major changes along those lines by 2030.
By offering authentic, boldly flavored dishes, Nolita in Florida is proving that fine dining is alive and well post-pandemic.
With an eye towards efficiency (and, one presumes, improved profits), Panera Bread recently unveiled it’s largest menu revamp ever.
Zooming out, Korean cuisine has found a niche in today’s restaurant, retail, and grocery foodscape, whether standing alone as a global cultural beacon of cuisine or being reimagined with some of today’s food trends.
The approvals signal a potential disruption to traditional animal- and plant-based ingredients that have long dominated consumer packaged goods (CPG).
The high cost of seafood and the very clear preference for certain fish is the reason behind the caution, but it could be a lost opportunity for restaurants to stand out and become true destinations for seafood.
In a few short years, retail will be a totally immersive and data-driven experience highlighted by personalized AI recommendations for health and home, smart carts to increase efficiency (and solve the traveling salesman’s dilemma in-store), and much more.
Debate surrounding California’s impending food additive ban is heating up as state-level copycat proposals rise across the U.S. Last month, the National Confectioners Association spoke out against the ban, calling it “an emotionally-driven campaign that lacks scientific backing.”
Clean-label initiatives continue to rise within the plant-based category and beyond as concerns surrounding ultra-processed foods intensify and more consumers prioritize what’s NOT in their products.
Served as an LTO, in a restaurant, or at a ball game, fired in a brick oven at 800 degrees or reheated Sunday morning in a battered collegiate microwave after a late night, pizza is a tough business that can yield great rewards, revenue, and satisfaction.
Try as plant-based brands might, traditional meats remain the largest generator of revenue in fresh departments, according to recent findings.
So prevalent and all-consuming is the cultural agency of the Costco Kirkland Signature All-Beef Hot Dog that it’s propelling a crypto “memecoin” on the Solana crypto exchange. That is a real sentence. “Hot dogs are in control,” writes one commentator on TikTok. “The buns stay on,” adds @Jan crypto trader in the same thread amid a rising swell of crypto brokers.
There’s a growing feeling among many consumers that what we put into our bodies can perhaps solve myriad health issues. That presents a major opportunity for CPG brands regarding functional food products.
