On Sunday at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) show at McCormick Place, Chicago, Lynn Dornblaser, director of Global New Product Database (GNPD) consulting services for Chicago-based Mintel International, reported that convenience will continue to attract consumer attention. During the session, entitled "Global Trends in Food and Beverage," she reported, among other emerging trends of note, that convenience will see increased emphasis in areas of product positioning and packaging.
Dornblaser noted that Mintel's GNPD research (http://www.gnpd.com) has targeted convenience areas like portability and one-handed eating and drinking, based in part on the increasing number of consumers who eat on the go, such as while driving. One product she cited clearly caters to such grab-and-go consumers: a single-serve, squeezable yogurt from Japan.
Convenience also involves products that can bring restaurant-quality food home in an easy heat-and-eat format. Dornblaser cited a handful of products that caters to this market, including microwavable panini and heat-and-eat osso buco.
Packaging is also taking new turns to offer convenient twists. Resealable cookie packaging is one example that Dornblaser used to illustrate this concept. Also, freezer-to-microwave, cook-in-bag vegetables take the boil-in-bag veggie concept one step further to shorten cooking time.
In addition to illustrating potentially emerging trends, Dornblaser mentioned a handful of "anti-trends" that will continue to affect consumer spending patterns. Among these, she noted products that focus on indulgence and are targeted toward youth, as well as the continued slow-foods movement and a revitalization of from-scratch home cooking. She also noted that a renewed focus on uniquely American tastes might emerge to compete with the ethnic products that have taken an increasing share of retail and foodservice dollars in recent years.
Other major issues that might affect the food industry in the coming years, according to Dornblaser, include increasing technology, sustainable packaging and a shift from supermarkets to specialty grocery stores.