2008 Trends

What hot food trends can we expect to see in 2008? I have done a little bit of research and found these trends.


NOT SO BAD
Those high fat foods that we have always thought of as bad will show us that they are natural and that is better. Foods like butter and Hellman’s mayonnaise will market that they are made from only natural ingredients. Other foods with uncertain nutritional content, like white bread, will show its health benefits as well. These campaigns will really push consumers to become more educated about the food they eat and not believe everything you hear.

WHOLE GRAINS, OMEGA-3s, PROBIOTICS, OH MY
We will see even more products listing their health benefits, lower calorie content or lower fat content. However, we can not take the jazzy front of the box at face value. It is still very important to read the nutritional content label and decide for yourself if it is a wise purchase.

FOOD SAFETY
We will see the rise in concern with lead-free products in other industries creep into people’s overall concern for safety. Among this food packaging facilities will flaunt their high safety standards.

LOCAL
Organic is so last year - LOL This year the new buzz word is local. Consumers are looking at the bigger picture and eating organic produce from other countries has a large impact on the environment than eating locally grown produce. More restaurants will advertise that they are part of this natural foods movement. The New Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year for 2007 was locavore and the trend will continue into 2008.

“A locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally or within a certain radius such as 50, 100, or 150 miles. The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food, with the argument that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Local grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.” (http://en.wikipedia.org)


MARKETS GET A MAKEOVER
We will see grocery stores move away from the box store feel and become more attractive to its consumers. We are already seeing that around here. They will loose they traditional aisle layout for more of an open-market feel, they will add specialty food bars, soft lighting and hardwood floors.

MODIFIED-CASUAL DINING
A restaurant trend we will see is restaurants moving from the large-chain casual dining experience to a modified version. These eateries will be housed in strip malls instead of as stand alone buildings and will have modified, scaled-down menus to offer fast, inexpensive options for its consumers.


OTHER TRENDS
Food & Wine magazine predicts:
* Old-fashioned candy
* Wild American shrimp
* Muesli will become more popular than granola
* Chef-run noodle bars
* Barrel-aged beers
* Chardonnay from Oregon
* Haute frozen food

Mintel International Group (Chicago-based market research firm) predicts:
* Functional waters (those with added nutrients)
* Virtually anything fair trade
* Ancient grains, such as amaranth, quinoa and teff
* Easy-to-understand nutritional labels

Baum & Whiteman Co. (restaurant consultants) predicts:
* More restaurants will accept takeout orders via text messaging
* Restaurants with ultraspecialized menus (such as breakfast cereal or grilled cheeses)
* Cocktails enhanced with functional foods
* Offal (entrails and internal organs of butchered animals)
* Korean food