Although the supply chain has limited many food items, tracking new foods that come on the ‘market’ (in stores and online) continues to be a moving target as the number of places to get food grows. If you’re feeling FOMO (fear of missing out) on new groceries, foods for takeout/dining out or new nutrition terms keep reading…
New products…
Here are some recent products you may be unaware of: Magic Spoon cereal heavily advertised on podcasts and only
been available online, now coming to 6800 groceries (https://www.fooddive.com/news/magic-spoon-retail-expansion-6800-stores/641697/); Halo Top isn’t only ice cream…its light baking mixes debut (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230131005007/en/Halo-Top®-Enters-the-Baking-Aisle-for-the-First-Time-with-New-Feel-Good-Sweets); sleep-promoting cereal launches
(https://www.bakingbusiness.com/articles/58266-post-launches-sleep-promoting-cereal); Sara Lee white bread with ‘1 cup of veggies in every loaf’ (https://www.bakemag.com/articles/17092-sara-lee-launches-bread-with-vegetables); Oatly yogurt debuts carbon footprint label (https://www.fooddive.com/news/oatly-debuts-carbon-footprint-labeling-on-us-products/641605/); tiger nuts is a root vegetable that is crunchy and slightly sweet (https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/23056-tiger-nut-innovation-on-trend-at-sprouts-farmers-market) and a Canadian kombucha soda coming to the U.S.? (https://www.foodbev.com/news/cove-gut-healthy-drinks-launches-sugar-free-functional-sodas/). All of these products were found in these online resources…
**Smartbrief – food category (https://corp.smartbrief.com/) has news from school nutrition to ag tech
**Trendhunter – food trends, new foods including restaurant, fast casual (https://www.trendhunter.com/food)
**Food Dive – food industry news and a Friday Leftovers column with info about new products (https://www.fooddive.com/). Where else would you read about how groceries and fast food may team up for seamless online ordering? (https://www.grocerydive.com/news/could-grocers-and-fast-food-restaurants-join-forces-for-online-ordering/642400/).
**Grocery Dive – grocery news (https://www.grocerydive.com/). Read articles like this: Albertsons launches digital health platform (https://www.grocerydive.com/news/albertsons-launches-digital-health-platform/642132/).
**Marketing Dive – digital marketing news, some about food (https://www.marketingdive.com/). Follow e-commerce with news like this: Wendy’s, Roku and DoorDash and shoppable videos (https://www.marketingdive.com/news/wendys-roku-doordash-shoppable-tv-ads/642079/).
**Supermarket Guru – food retail, trends, e-commerce and more; a 15-minute Live Report Mondays at 2:30 PM ET on Facebook/online (https://www.supermarketguru.com/)
**Specialty Food Association – new foods in the mainstream and specialty space (https://www.specialtyfood.com/). A recent article is about a pick-up only grocer (https://www.specialtyfood.com/news/article/pick-only-grocer-debuts-first-location/).
**The Food Institute – news about the food industry, trends (https://foodinstitute.com/). Read about food companies move to DTC/direct to consumer (https://foodinstitute.com/focus/pivoting-to-dtc/).
**The Takeout – interesting mix of new foods, eating out/takeout and opinion pieces (https://thetakeout.com/). Where else would you read about ordering restaurant food via TikTok? (https://thetakeout.com/you-might-order-restaurant-delivery-from-tiktok-soon-1850096199).
**TastingTable – mix of new products, eating out and food trends, cooking tips, recipes (https://www.tastingtable.com/). Intrigued with tiger nuts? Find out what to do if baking with tiger nut flour (https://www.tastingtable.com/1190418/the-step-you-should-take-before-baking-with-tiger-nut-flour/).
**Plant-based protein tracker – track product launches
(https://www.fooddive.com/news/plant-based-protein-tracker/564886/)
Eating out…
**Fast food menu prices – track current prices (https://www.fastfoodmenuprices.com/)
**Restaurant menu tracker – track menu items (https://www.nrn.com/menu-tracker)
**Food on Demand – the intersection of food, technology & mobility
Keep up…podcasts in your ears…
**Food Navigator podcast focuses on the food industry (https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/foodnavigator-usa-podcast-william-reed-ovOdqezWiQw/)
**Lost in the Supermarket focuses on food retail and trends (https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/lost-in-the-supermarket-supermarketguru-4FTXkY2VZUl/). Where else would you hear about the beginning of meal kits? January 26, 2023 episode
**Find podcast episodes about topics, foods you are interested in (https://www.listennotes.com/)
Keep up with new terms…
Sustainatarians? Reducetarians? (https://www.tastingtable.com/1187214/how-sustainatarians-and-reducetarians-differ-from-other-climate-diets/); dawn of climavores (https://www.kearney.com/consumer-retail/article/-/insights/dawn-of-the-climavores); climavores vs. regenivores (https://econlife.com/2023/02/carbon-footprint-food-labels/); social omnivores (https://www.bonappetit.com/story/social-omnivore-vegetarian-meat). You’ve heard of shrinkflation, well now comes ‘greedflation’ (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/24/greedflation-food-brands-may-be-profiteering-from-price-hikes.html).
Keep up with food searches…
Find out Google searches for terms over the past 12 months for the U.S.; drill down to a region, state or city (https://trends.google.com/trends/explore).
One last thought…
Keeping up with TikTok is a challenge for foodservice workers and causing ingredient shortages
(https://headtopics.com/us/tiktok-s-secret-menus-are-driving-food-service-workers-nuts-35071314).