It’s widely recognized that consumers are seeking more “green” options, from organic produce to low-footprint proteins. Retailers are stocking more of these products, making the sector one of the fastest-growing areas of the food business for farmers, distributors, and retailers alike. It’s a good time to be selling anything perceived […]
As a category, functional foods is among the biggest trends in the food industry, as consumers seek products with added nutrition and food companies attempt to differentiate their offerings. For marketers, these products pose a challenge: talking about benefits which are often couched in confusing (or outright offputting) scientific jargon. […]
Every consumer trend has a lifecycle, and food trends are no exception. Many observers have recently proclaimed that cupcakes’ time is up. Is that true? And what does the answer mean for manufacturers and retailers of similar products? A combination of influential bakeries and a high-profile cameo in 2000 on […]
I have become spam. My family and friends think I was hacked because I sent them an email saying “I lost 10 pounds in just one week!” But I actually did lose ten pounds in a week . . . and here’s how you can, too! I’ve been gluten-free for […]
Smithsonian.com’s K. Annie Smith recently published a fascinating post on the improving market share of traditional instant or ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee. In the United States, those brands haven’t fared well recently; the rise of Starbucks and the specialty coffee trend have shifted consumer tastes in a more high-end direction, and […]
Perhaps no label has more power over the health-focused consumer than that of “superfood,” a whole food said to have uniquely valuable nutrition benefits. One food after another has been labeled a superfood, from blueberries to açai berries to kale, resulting in booming sales. A recent study identified newly-popularized superfoods as […]
Trends inform and inspire all of our work. In the food industry, this means knowing when cupcakes are “out” and doughnuts are “in”; what’s happening with the FDA’s decision on the GRAS designation of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs); and what the next hot protein ingredient will be (could it be microalgae […]
As a Girl Scout Cookie order form was shared around the office this year, there was a noticeable absence of a “no hydrogenated oils” banner from fan favorite Samoas, Tagalongs, and the ever-popular Thin Mints, which, together, make up 57% of Girl Scout Cookie sales. We couldn’t help but ponder […]
9,000,000,000. Nine billion. If you pay attention to news about food and the environment, you’re probably used to hearing that number, which represents the likely size of the global population by the middle of the century, up two billion from where we are now. The biggest concern about this growth […]
NPR’s food blog The Salt recently reported on a pop-up restaurant in Washington, D.C., serving a menu devoted to insects. Sponsored by an exterminator and called the “Pestaurant,” the eatery features grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms, and ants. As it happens, we talked last year about whether eating bugs could be one […]
Food Safety Modernization Act Since the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law in 2011, the food industry has been faced with the prospect of greatly increased safety and transparency regulations. Today, those changes are still being rolled out—from much more frequent FDA inspections to stricter requirements for […]
At MarketPlace, we’re all about food, and for several of us that includes growing some ourselves. That means we have a more than passing familiarity with the old-fashioned seed catalog. These catalogs go back to the seventeenth century in Europe, with the first American version established in 1784. Since that […]
