Beyond the major industry players, smaller food service outlets, restaurants and bars have had to branch out into new areas in light of Covid-related restrictions, too. Innova’s ‘Omnichannel Eating’ trend reflects this, with home cooking, meal kits, expanded delivery services and more sophisticated ingredients on the rise. “[Companies] found new ways to connect with their customers,” Williams said.
Holistic approach to wellness Other new trends, such as ‘Mood: The Next Occasion’, ‘In Tune with Immune’, ‘Tailored to Fit’ and ‘Nutrition Hacking’, reflect a renewed interest in health and personalised nutrition, whether for physical or mental wellbeing. “We are seeing very rapid growth in products that promote sleep or some kind of well-being,” Williams said, adding that both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have made recent introductions in this area. “We think mood is the next occasion,” she said. “It comes back to this holistic way of taking care of emotional, physical and spiritual health.” At the same time, fitness trackers and increased access to food intolerance testing have allowed for a more personalised approach to diet and health. “A lot of people are tracking like crazy with their Fitbits and people are also looking more and more to tailor what they buy,” she said. “Gluten-free was the first big trend that happened that made consumers realise they could eat what was good for them, and not necessarily what was good for somebody else…Before, you could guess what was good for you, but now you can prove it, and you have more products that are tailored for your needs.” In addition, functional and fortified foods are back, according to Innova. “We went through eight or ten years of this very inherent nutritional approach and now we are asking consumers whether they agree with the science, and they are more willing to accept a less natural approach if it speaks to their dietary needs,” Williams said.
Connection and balance The report suggests that finding a balance between discovery and nostalgia, health and indulgence will be important for successful product development in 2021. However, transparency links all these trends together. “It is important to connect with your consumers in a really meaningful way. Whether it is good for immunity or safe to eat, those meaningful messages are really important right now,” she said. Rounding out the top ten, ‘The Age of the Influencer’ trend is related to this idea of meaningful connection, as consumers increasingly are interested in who is advising them on what to eat. “They are asking themselves, who is to be trusted right now?” Williams said. “They think about the ingredients and how it’s made, or it might be about communicating that something is a ton of fun – that’s OK too.”
Fi Global Insights 2021 Trend Guide | 5
