The food industry has specific challenges that need appropriate expertise. Our know-how helps you achieve your international business and trade development goals. We offer you sector-specific knowledge, as well as our contacts and opportunities for networking.

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Read more about the hospitality sector:

• Background
• Current challenges
• Opportunities

Background information of the food sector

Traditionally, demand elasticity for food was low, as food is a basic human need. More recently however, th food industry has grown more complex and today the same types of food are frequently found at various price and quality levels. Price sensitivity and demand elasticity have therefore increased. Today, consumers are more price conscious, making value for money the prime success factor.

Consumers are increasingly demanding, as they are used to greater variety of goods offered, and they expect products to match exactly their needs. Highly customized products are preferred, as well as personalized services helping companies to attract and retain customers.

Strong brand identity is recognized as another key success factor, making marketing a necessary investment. Consumers are more likely to buy branded products, but interestingly they are promiscuous among brands. This means that customers switch between big brands searching for the best deal.

Current challenges of the food sector

Hanging over the food industry of the 21st century is the need to feed a growing global population. In the short term, commodity prices have never been higher. Further out, the dream of a second "Green Revolution" will test human ingenuity.

Today, the food sector includes both food products that are sold in shops, and food services offered in restaurants. The two subcategories have been influenced by the economic crisis in a similar manner. The crisis impacted the sector in two phases: at first, the sector was hit hard, and then it started benefiting from the crisis.

With the economic crisis, consumers became thriftier, increasingly price sensitive and value conscious. This resulted in lower sales of food and sales of cheaper and only necessary food. When the economy has started slightly, people still could not afford big luxury such as travelling or expensive holidays. However spending a bit extra on affordable luxury such as better quality food and eating out would not ruin their budgets. This helped the food sector to recover and start growing again.  

Opportunities in the food sector

In order to keep pace with developments in the food sector, it is important to have access to actual, accurate and complete information and in-depth expertise. We will help you to address all important issues, including trends, key success factors, advancements and innovations, supply and demand development, operational and financial risks, benchmarking, as well as regulations and opportunities for funds and grants.

Some of the key opportunities and trends in the food industry include:

• Local products

  → Consumers have gained confidence in local producers. Especially fruits, vegetables, diary and meat products are considered of a greater value and quality if they are grown by a local farmer. This results in three new trends – increased interest in farmers' markets and their revival new marketing strategies in supermarkets, where name of the farm and farmer are displayed on the label; and even restaurants that include names of the most famous butchers and farmers of the region in their menus¹.

• Food apps

  → There is an explosion in the number of smartphone applications helping you to choose the best restaurant within your location, price range and cuisine type, as well as applications helping you to create meals from chosen ingredients. The latest trends are also for grocery coupons and restaurant deals, such as an application that suggests restaurant deals based on your GPS location¹.

• Expanding new tastes and products

  → With improved technologies for keeping products fresh during global transportation, consumers can find more exotic products in shelves of their regular supermarkets and restaurants. This encourages their curiosity and initiates a new wave of interest to experience new flavours and textures, including fruits, spices or seafood. Traditional food will not disappear, but it will be challenged by this new category of so called “discomfort food^”1.

• Food as an aphrodisiac and energy booster

  → Statistics are in favour of food that will keep people healthy and full of energy. With babyboomers now in their mid-sixties, they are looking for health stimulating food products in order to preserve good physical condition and live long. Moreover, a growing priority is to prolong their love lives by using natural aphrodisiacs, such as nutmeg or shrimps. Other energy boosters on rise include açai berry, goji berry, mangosteen, cupuaçu fruit, and chia¹.

• Veggies on rise

  → Vegetables are increasingly popular. Restaurants have introduced Vegetable Mondays, while others try to make vegetables more delicious. For example by roasting vegetables, frying vegetables, and making all new kinds of crisps made from turnips, carrots or beetroots³.

• Breakfast makes the day

  → It is said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and the latest trends suggest many delicious changes! In the major food event in San Francisco, chocolate was presented as an energy booster that is no longer only a treat, but a good source of breakfast that brings benefits to your health. This can be in the form of chocolate tea, chocolate waffles, chocolate granola, or even a hot chocolate on a stick. The rise of energy drinks is part of this trend².

• New ingredients

  → Chefs play a star role in re-discovering and popularising new and exotic ingredients. Such ingredients currently gaining popularity include whey, kumquat, pimento cheese, hay, pretzels, hummus, and honey used in sauces and dressing³.

• Desserts

  → The time of the cupcake is over. Today's trends in desserts include pies, French macarons, marshmallows and doughnuts. Beer based deserts are also among popular newcomers^3;4.

• Grass-fed beef

  → Organic food has witnessed a big boom in past few years and has entered the mainstream as consumers expect to be able to find it in all supermarkets. This was followed by free-range eggs, corn-fed chicken, and now grass-fed beef as the latest meat trend³.

• Other trends to be found in thehospitality and FMCG sectors, including
  → Super chefs in charge of school canteens
  → Coffee consumption trends 
  → Microbrew on the rise
  → Nordic cuisine bringing new ingredients
  → New trend of foraging
  → Trends in packaging and food/drink serving

2) Food Channel. 2011. Top ten breakfast trends in 2011. Online at: http://www.foodchannel.com/articles/article/top-ten-breakfast-trends-2011/

3) Freeman, A. et al. 2010. Andrew Freeman & Co. reveals 2011hospitality trends. Online at: http://www.hospitalityworldnetwork.com/operations/andrew-freeman-co-reveals-2011-trend-list-hospitality-9415

4) Murray, R. 2011. Eat this space. Ryanair Magazine – Issue 15 Jan. 2011. Online at: http://www.ryanairmag.com/story/eat-this-space/947/1/

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