Food Trends Forecast: Hit or Miss?

For more than 20 years, I’ve compiled a list of predictions for the year ahead in the food world. For the first time this year, I decided to “grade” myself on how accurate (or not) my figurative crystal ball was. It’s a way for all of us to reflect on what’s occurred in the past year that we might have already forgotten about and what we need to be on the lookout for in the coming year. 

Trend: Mindfulness (Got It Right)

Mindfulness reflected a new consumer attitude to truly understand everything possible about a particular food or beverage and, in turn, support those brands, companies or retailers with repeat purchases. Innova Market Insights reported that 7 out of 10 U.S. and U.K. consumers want to know and understand product ingredients. Food and beverage brand introductions that feature ethical claims on their packages have increased sevenfold since 2010, and these human, environmental and animal ethical claims continue to grow in popularity.

Today’s new food leaders are driven by a new set of corporate values: social conscience, health and wellness, enhanced nutrition and life hacking. And yes, they also want to make money—big money.

Trend: Tactile (Got It Right, With a Twist)

It’s all about being involved. Feeling and hearing a connection is more important in food than ever. First came a more intellectual connection to our foods, and now it gets physical. With the onslaught of “food information overload,” we now need grounding. There is no profession more tactile than a chef—one of the reasons for the initial boom of meal kits, which quickly faded as customers reacted negatively to their overpackaging. 

Related:2018 Food Trend #1: Mindfulness

I predicted that poke bowl restaurants offering a variety of colors and textures would pop up everywhere, and they have. But now I predict we will see many closures because restaurants haven’t offered enough variety. However, retailers such as Gelson’s, which have installed service poke bars that invite shoppers to make their own combinations, should continue to do well.

I forecasted that 3D printing would create more tactile food experiences and make production methods more efficient and less wasteful in departments such as in-store bakeries, where customers order cakes with exact ingredients and designs. While I haven’t seen a lot of commercialization of this technology at retail, I still stand by this prediction for 2019.

Trend: Farming (Got It Right)

A new breed of younger farmers are entering the fields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Census of Agriculture reports the number of farmers under age 35 is increasing, which is only the second time that’s happened since 1900. Of these new farmers, 69% have college degrees, far higher than the 40% penetration for of the general population. Younger, smarter farmers are bringing us into a new era of agriculture and technology.

Related:2018 Food Trend #2: Tactile

Trend: Biohacking (Almost Got It Right)

Biohacking creates a science for more individualized nutrition and products based on DNA. While companies such as 23andMe, Habit and GenoPalate are selling nutrition guidance reports, no one (yet) is using them to customize foods, which could be huge.

Trend: Technofoodology (Got It Right)

The combination of the internet of things and food is here. Alexa, Google Home and Sonos are ushering in new ways to buy food; we can easily replenish our homes by asking Alexa to reorder from Amazon and other retailers such as Sheetz, which now offers “made-to-order foods” from all of its 564 c-stores stores on Alexa.

So how did I do? I’ll give myself a solid B, but I’m curious to know what grade you would give me. Let me know at [email protected].