Americans living in urban areas are the biggest fans of alternative ingredient snacks, even more so than people who live in suburban areas and far more than those living in rural settings. The differences are most pronounced for pulse- and seaweed-based snacks, but the pattern holds true for every type of alternative ingredient salty snack and cracker; rural snackers are just less interested.
March 2, 2017For the millions of people who have celiac disease the various gluten-free certifications are of great value, not only helping them to manage a serious health condition, but providing psychological and emotional relief as well.
February 27, 2017The kids’ food and beverage market is particularly challenging because industry players must market to children and parents at the same time. This means delivering on healthfulness: Nearly half (46%) of parents list nutritional value as most important when choosing foods at the supermarket for their children, the highest response rate among 16 choices.
February 16, 2017Perhaps more than ever before, consumers want to know about what’s in their meat and poultry, how it was raised and where it came from. This need to know taps a breadth of concerns related to food healthfulness and sustainable practices, as discussed in the Packaged Facts report, "Meat, Poultry and Seafood: Restaurant Trends and Opportunities".
December 15, 2016Consumers continue to embrace snacking—not only as viable daypart option but also as a paradigm through which to view eating in general (smaller, more frequent meals). This has caused and will continue to cause changes in consumers’ relationships with traditional breakfast foods.
November 10, 2016“Clean label” has become a hot topic in the food and beverage industry as consumers begin to look more closely at what goes into their food and beverages. Many consumers are now using the “kitchen test”-“can the ingredients on the label be found in my own kitchen?”-as their rule of thumb to determine whether or not to buy a product. They are scrutinizing ingredients decks on packages for a short list of ingredients with names they can recognize, and avoiding those with unpronounceable, chemical-...
June 12, 2015The frozen pizza industry has a problem on its hands: in the face of health and “real food” trends, frozen pizza may be suffering from a processed food stereotype. The bottom line is that during 2010-2014, the percentage of households eating frozen pizza in the past 30 days has dropped slightly, while the percentage eating 10+ pizzas per month has dropped 15%. The trend is particularly troubling because it involves demographics that have been core users, such as consumers living in households wi...
March 13, 2015That sound you (virtually) heard on January 26, when Pizza Hut debuted its Udi’s-crusted gluten-free pizza to 2,400 locations nationwide, was a collective cheer from the GF blogosphere. “The beautiful partnership of Pizza Hut and Udi’s,” said one blogger, is a celiac’s dream come true. “Excited” was the word du jour. Gluten free-ers are excited that the world’s largest pizza company is catering to their dietary needs. Excited that the move will spur other restaurants into GF action, and excited ...
February 9, 2015The last few years have not been kind to frozen foods. Overall sales have for the most part been flat or shrinking. Any increases have been minimal and short-lived. The recent damage to this once essential grocery segment can largely be traced to a growing consumer taste for fresh, natural, and organic foods. Like most food trends, the strength of this trend may be overstated but it is real and it is growing as can be seen from the double-digit sales increases for organic foods reported by the...
February 2, 2015For more than a decade, the notorious failure of Webvan scared many potential entrants away from the online grocery business. Now, the field is swiftly becoming crowded with trials by competitors and new operating models, with online grocery services apparently poised to take off on a high growth trajectory, according to Online Food Shopping and Grocery Delivery in the U.S.: Future of Food Retailing by Packaged Facts. Meeting at the crossroads of technology and service, online grocery shopping...
November 12, 2014