Interested in learning more about health and wellness food drivers, including consumer demand for grains? Be sure to purchase your copy of the upcoming Packaged Facts report, Food Formulation Trends: Ancient Grains and Sprouted Grains (August 2015). Packaged Facts research director David Sprinkle will be among the expert presenters at the “Innovation with Healthier Oils & Grains: Solutions to Meet Changing Policies and Demands” course hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) on July...
July 7, 2015What do the latest trends in functional foods and beverages targeting weight management and satiety, sports nutrition and energy have in common? All three are benefitting from a shift to products made with more natural and whole food ingredients that are non-GMO and contain no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Protein is particularly important to all three, with meat playing a more important role than in the past in delivering this nutritional benefit. According to the Packaged Facts ...
April 17, 2015Nutritional bars have gained a prominent place in the pantheon of snacks revered by a nation of snackers. Nutritional bars are a handy way for consumers to stop eating three meals a day at set times and to start consuming smaller portions of food throughout the day, whether they are on the go or at home. Nutritional bars conform to a broad cultural shift toward healthier, good-for-you food products. Bars provide an attractive way for food marketers to offer bold, exciting flavors; ingredients ...
March 30, 2015Today’s consumers want and expect more than great taste and belly-filling from the foods and beverages they consume. Ninety percent of Americans believe that certain foods offer health benefits beyond basic nutrition, according to research published in Packaged Facts’ Functional Foods: Key Trends & Developments in Ingredients. Baby Boomers and Millennials are looking for products offering positive nutrition to help them optimize health and avoid chronic and, potentially, life-threatening illness...
January 14, 2015Spending by Hispanic consumers for food at grocery and other food stores has grown more than 80% over the past decade, more than twice the growth rate registered by consumers on average. With the continuing dispersal of Latinos into areas not traditionally known for having substantial Hispanic populations, Hispanic food shoppers now represent a rapidly growing segment of the customer base of grocers throughout the country. While Hispanic food shoppers offer a rich opportunity for food marketer...
August 11, 2014An increasing number of U.S. businesses are concerned with managing their ecological footprint, and in recent years this dedication to going green has trickled down to the U.S. coffee market. In particular, to have a competitive foodservice coffee platform, being environmentally and socially responsible is increasingly important, according to Coffee and Ready-to-Drink Coffee in the U.S.: Retail and Foodservice, 8th Edition , a recent report by Packaged Facts. To illustrate this point, consider...
July 16, 2014The market for bottled water has a promising future. As consumers continue to reject carbonated soft drinks and embrace bottled water, many beverage industry analysts and marketers are convinced that the category will soon become the dominant non-alcoholic beverage. Health and wellness concerns, the fitness fad and the perennial struggle of many consumers with overweight and obesity have combined to make bottled water the zero-calorie/ultra-low calorie beverage of choice for growing millions of ...
May 20, 2014Our hat is off to coffee innovation, which continues to help a very mature market grow new usage occasions and higher price points. Threading this needle translates to continuing to push the variety envelope while leveraging hot coffee’s dominant position. In the end, it’s largely about raising the price of coffee-or at least getting more money per ounce. Across restaurant menus, flavors that have universal appeal, such as mocha, chocolate, vanilla, and caramel, have the strongest penetration....
May 14, 2014In recent years, the beverages industry has been transformed by the innovation of once routine thirst-appeasing liquids into exciting, energizing, sometimes better-for-you products. Consumers are looking for beverages that satisfy a number of needs in their daily lives beyond satiating thirst, and these include energy, weight loss, illness mitigation, nutrient replacement, sugar and caffeine cravings and protein intake. Beverages are taking cues from exotic flavors, fruits and even ancient foods...
April 8, 2014With coffee and tea getting so much attention among foodservice players, other stalwart beverage sales drivers such as juice may be getting overlooked. But Packaged Facts’ proprietary June 2013 consumer survey results published in Foodservice Breakfast Trends in the U.S., 2nd Edition suggest that foodservice juice purchases are alive and well, thank you: the last time foodservice breakfast users (who had gotten breakfast/breakfast snacks in the past 30 days) got breakfast or a breakfast snack fr...
November 8, 2013