Skip to main content

Kerry Predicts Consumers’ Top Flavours And Ingredients For Coming Year

-

www.kamcity.com

Research by taste & nutrition company Kerry has uncovered the flavours and ingredients that are set to inspire innovation across the food and beverage landscape in the year ahead. 

In its annual Taste Charts study, the firm found a trend towards familiar and nostalgic tastes, which resurged during the pandemic. This is anticipated to continue over the coming year as people seek comfort from their food and beverages. Consumers are gravitating toward comforting and familiar tastes, with classic desserts such as banana split, apple pie and custard are featured as flavours in different categories – including those in the ‘sweet’ and ‘beverage’ categories. 

In Europe, restrictions on movement in 2020 have led to consumers travelling the world with their taste buds. This is reflected in the Taste Charts, with a rise in Korean, Indian, Thai, Greek and Spanish cuisine, as well as exotic notes like Calamansi and Acerola. Trends around health and wellbeing continues to gather pace and interest among consumers, while sustainable sourcing is also growing in importance.

“2020 has been a year like no other. During the lockdown period, consumers stayed connected online and continued to share the food that excited them, augmenting the need for playful textures and exciting flavours,” said Christina, Marketing Manager for Taste in Europe and Russia. 

“Fermentation emerged across several product categories, with vinegar and pickled becoming a top trend and flavour note. The traditional citrus, vanilla, chocolate and BBQ flavours will remain relevant in 2021, but consumers expect these tastes through flavours that are more sustainable or have provenance claims. Meanwhile, botanicals such as lavender, turmeric and basil can meet consumer needs across food and beverage products that support the quest for holistic wellbeing.” 

The Taste Charts utilise consumer purchase patterns, retail product performance, foodservice influences, and endorsements from the company’s internal culinary, beverage, and mixology experts to predict tastes for the coming year. 

Matrozou added: “The Taste Charts supports manufacturers by providing an expert overview of key, mainstream, up-and-coming and emerging flavours and ingredients across categories. This helps accelerate new product development times by making it easier to select flavours during the brainstorm and development phase. Kerry’s customers can harness these trends in a really exciting way, with plenty of room to innovate and create products that will resonate with consumers.”

The 2021 Kerry Taste Chart for Europe and Russia, can be downloaded here

Popular posts from this blog

Inside Lidl’s strategy for in-store bakery (and how suppliers can help)

-
Image
Lidl is making a major play for in-store bakery and it’s not afraid to shout about it. The discounter – which is currently the sixth largest grocer in the UK by market share [Statista] – recently overtook Tesco to secure the biggest slice of in-store bakery (ISB). Data from Kantar showed that Lidl, which was crowned  Bakery Retailer of the Year  at the 2023 Baking Industry Awards, had pipped the UK’s largest supermarket  with 18.2% of the ISB market compared to Tesco’s 18%. Speaking at the British Society of Baking conference earlier this year, Holly Bleach, head of buying at Lidl, described bakery as “critical” to Lidl as it’s one of the categories that drives overall customer satisfaction. “We’re set up to be really successful in bakery in the UK due to the prominence of our bakeries in store. More often than not, they’re right by the front door so every customer that walks in has to pass the bakery and not many can resist stopping and obviously picking up an item,” she...
Read more

Savory, sweet, or something else? British snack preferences

-
Image
As  more Britons incorporate snacks into their daily routines , understanding their preferences could be essential for brands looking to capture a share of the market. From fruits and vegetables to indulgent confectionary and savoury treats, the snacking landscape in the UK is diverse. When it comes to daily snacking frequency, fruits and vegetables lead the way. Research shows that 57% of Britons snack on fruits daily, while 41% eat vegetables just as often. These healthy options are staples in the British diet; however, indulgence also has its place in the snacking routine.  Confectionary items are a popular choice, with 45% of Britons indulging weekly. Similarly, crisps (41%) and savoury biscuits (32%) are go-to snacks for many, highlighting the nation’s love for salty and crunchy treats.  Yogurt is another favoured option, with 24% of Britons enjoying it daily and 30% weekly. Despite being promoted as nutritious options, only a small percentage of respondents consume ...
Read more

Bakery’s growing role in food-to-go

-
Image
  Baked goods and food-to-go are natural partners, but this, in our view, is of increasing importance across the sector, and we see potential for bakery to play a bigger role in future. Here are some of the ways we are seeing this coming through:   The bakery-led café concept is a market sweetspot   Gail’s in the UK is a prominent example here, but there are many others. For example in Paris and Copenhagen, there are numerous examples of this, not least in the development of Eric Kayser and Lagkagehuset (trading as Ole & Steen in the UK and the US), both domestically and expanded significantly and internationally over recent years. During safaris in Stockholm earlier this year we were struck by food-to-go developments at the bakery-led Bröd & Salt, even adding a salad bar concept into some locations, and supporting bakery with a strong coffee and broader drinks offer. We see three clear elements driving success: 1) quality bakery that tempts in its own right 2)...
Read more