Protein powder has been growing in popularity for years, and while it\'s a good way to add protein to shakes and smoothies, it\'s not very compatible with preexisting meal habits. Quest Chips is a growing brand of protein chips that’s at the center of these trends.
One feature of chips, compared to bars, is that consumption is more continuous rather than discrete. If you planned on eating a single bar, it\'s hard to accidentally eat a bar and a half. But with chips, it\'s easy to passively consume them. That\'s especially possible while doing something else; there\'s a whole category of listicles that recommend the right snack for binge-viewing Netflix, and even an abundance of articles on content pairings for particular shows.
Rather than a traditional meal that could require a fork, knife, and plate, TV-focused snackers are increasingly seeking out hand-held snacks. A snack for gaming, a snack for texting, or a snack for watching TV. Food companies noticed and started pushing to create snacks that are utensil-free and clean-up-free.
Snacking has been growing too and, as this happens, the line between snacks and meals is blurring. Research shows that consumers are eating more meals at non-standard times and that snacks now account for over half the times younger generations eat. It’s a function of a more fragmented day that\'s less likely to be bookended by a context-setting commute.","head":"Healthy Snacking is on the Rise","body_links":"As screen time grows, and consumers increasingly watch with a phone in hand (one 2019 survey put the share of TV watchers who do this at 55%), there\'s a battle for the last hand, and healthy snacking options are aiming to win it by becoming one-hand-eating friendly.
Protein powder has been growing in popularity for years, and while it\'s a good way to add protein to shakes and smoothies, it\'s not very compatible with preexisting meal habits. Quest Chips is a growing brand of protein chips that’s at the center of these trends.
One feature of chips, compared to bars, is that consumption is more continuous rather than discrete. If you planned on eating a single bar, it\'s hard to accidentally eat a bar and a half. But with chips, it\'s easy to passively consume them. That\'s especially possible while doing something else; there\'s a whole category of listicles that recommend the right snack for binge-viewing Netflix, and even an abundance of articles on content pairings for particular shows.
Rather than a traditional meal that could require a fork, knife, and plate, TV-focused snackers are increasingly seeking out hand-held snacks. A snack for gaming, a snack for texting, or a snack for watching TV. Food companies noticed and started pushing to create snacks that are utensil-free and clean-up-free.
Snacking has been growing too and, as this happens, the line between snacks and meals is blurring. Research shows that consumers are eating more meals at non-standard times and that snacks now account for over half the times younger generations eat. It’s a function of a more fragmented day that\'s less likely to be bookended by a context-setting commute.","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"When Instagram first started influencing restaurant traffic, some restaurants switched from round plates to square ones to fit in with the social media company’s image format, which was square-only until mid-2015. The rectangular shape maximizes the amount of food in the frame and helped restaurants stand out in the feed.
In similar ways, restaurants are increasingly putting more effort into eye-catching interior decoration rather than exterior design; if more customers are choosing dinner based on their social media feeds, rather than by walking down the street, it\'s what\'s on the inside of the restaurant that counts.
And as TikTok and YouTube usage continues to rise, the popularity of aspirational dining grows too. Wagyu beef, a type of meat prized for its marbling, is a luxury food with strong visual appeal, making it popular for this type of content. Millions of consumers watch videos of wagyu being cooked and eaten even though most can’t afford it on a regular or even semi-regular basis.
Its aspirational nature is also clear when looking at the numbers. The \\"Wagyu\\" tag has almost 700 million views on TikTok, compared to 1/5th that volume for “Barbacoa”, another type of meat, despite Barbacoa having higher consumption.
This widespread appeal creates buzz and the increased buzz eventually helps get the product in front of the consumers who can afford it, driving up sales in the long run. It’s a marketing strategy many companies use: Lean into the features of a product that appeal to a less relevant but wider audience as a way to create a buzz that draws in the ultimate target audience.
There has been pushback on marketing non-Japanese beef as Wagyu, especially from 1997 to 2003, when the Japanese government banned the export of Wagyu cows. Since then, different varieties like American Wagyu and Australian Wagyu have grown in popularity.
Expensive foods, more broadly, are an important export for Japan. Consumer behavior studies have shown that gift recipients put more value on an expensive version of a typically cheap item than on an average-priced version of something usually more expensive, even if the price tag of the latter is higher. This means that a $300 bottle of wine would be received more favorably than a $1,000 computer.","head":"The Rise of Wagyu Beef","body_links":"When Instagram first started influencing restaurant traffic, some restaurants switched from round plates to square ones to fit in with the social media company’s image format, which was square-only until mid-2015. The rectangular shape maximizes the amount of food in the frame and helped restaurants stand out in the feed.
In similar ways, restaurants are increasingly putting more effort into eye-catching interior decoration rather than exterior design; if more customers are choosing dinner based on their social media feeds, rather than by walking down the street, it\'s what\'s on the inside of the restaurant that counts.
And as TikTok and YouTube usage continues to rise, the popularity of aspirational dining grows too. Wagyu beef, a type of meat prized for its marbling, is a luxury food with strong visual appeal, making it popular for this type of content. Millions of consumers watch videos of wagyu being cooked and eaten even though most can’t afford it on a regular or even semi-regular basis.
Its aspirational nature is also clear when looking at the numbers. The \\"Wagyu\\" tag has almost 700 million views on TikTok, compared to 1/5th that volume for “Barbacoa”, another type of meat, despite Barbacoa having higher consumption.
This widespread appeal creates buzz and the increased buzz eventually helps get the product in front of the consumers who can afford it, driving up sales in the long run. It’s a marketing strategy many companies use: Lean into the features of a product that appeal to a less relevant but wider audience as a way to create a buzz that draws in the ultimate target audience.
There has been pushback on marketing non-Japanese beef as Wagyu, especially from 1997 to 2003, when the Japanese government banned the export of Wagyu cows. Since then, different varieties like American Wagyu and Australian Wagyu have grown in popularity.
Expensive foods, more broadly, are an important export for Japan. Consumer behavior studies have shown that gift recipients put more value on an expensive version of a typically cheap item than on an average-priced version of something usually more expensive, even if the price tag of the latter is higher. This means that a $300 bottle of wine would be received more favorably than a $1,000 computer.","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}}],"meta_desc":"Discover the latest trends in the food category, from new ingredients, flavors, sauces and snacks, to packaging methods and condiments.","cta_header":"See all the Food Trends"},{"desc":"The top Alcohol Trends of 2022 including everything from Alcohol Gummies to Ranch Water","name":"Alcohol","slug":"alcohol-trends","title":"Alcohol Trends","trends":["Alcohol Gummies","Ranch Water","Hazy IPA","Soju","Limoncello Spritz","Paper Plane Cocktail","Makgeolli","Zero Alcohol Wine","White Tea Shot","Mexican Candy Shot","Hard Seltzer","Non Alcoholic Beer","Bumbu Rum","Reposado Tequila","Strong Zero","Mango Mule","Ice Tropez","Maraschino"],"insights":[{"body":"DIY Alcohol gummies have been a party hack for decades, but they take 24 hours to prep. The pre-packaged alcohol gummies category, still in its infancy, is now taking off and has strong potential to become a much larger category.
Evolving party dynamics are, in part, driving the growth of alcohol gummies: Party-goers increasingly have one hand occupied with their phone and card-based party games are getting more and more common.
Hosts also say taking drinks out of the equation is an easy way to avoid spills and makes them more comfortable leaving expensive furniture uncovered. A product that makes a consumer more likely to host parties and to use that product at the parties has a natural built-in viral loop.
Any time a snack is convenient to eat but inconvenient to prepare, there\'s an opportunity for a brand to offer a pre-packaged version. While there’s only a single brand selling alcohol gummies now, along with a handful of Etsy sellers, we expect the category to grow significantly.","head":"The Rise of Alcohol Gummies","body_links":"DIY Alcohol gummies have been a party hack for decades, but they take 24 hours to prep. The pre-packaged alcohol gummies category, still in its infancy, is now taking off and has strong potential to become a much larger category.
Evolving party dynamics are, in part, driving the growth of alcohol gummies: Party-goers increasingly have one hand occupied with their phone and card-based party games are getting more and more common.
Hosts also say taking drinks out of the equation is an easy way to avoid spills and makes them more comfortable leaving expensive furniture uncovered. A product that makes a consumer more likely to host parties and to use that product at the parties has a natural built-in viral loop.
Any time a snack is convenient to eat but inconvenient to prepare, there\'s an opportunity for a brand to offer a pre-packaged version. While there’s only a single brand selling alcohol gummies now, along with a handful of Etsy sellers, we expect the category to grow significantly.","replaced_keywords":{"Alcohol Gummies":"Alcohol gummies"}},{"body":"The single most consumed liquor brand on the planet isn’t a whiskey, vodka, rum, or gin; It’s Soju. This Korean drink owes its popularity to several factors: second-order consequences of some unique legal issues, Korea’s drinking culture, and, more recently, the rise of Korean music and cinema.
In the US, liquor laws give Soju a boost. Because of its low alcohol content, it can be sold at restaurants that have a beer and wine license but no liquor license, which often costs more. And because it’s usually consumed in shots, it’s a popular substitute for liquor.
Historically, one early reason for Soju’s success is the Korean industrial development model. In the 60s and 70s, the Korean government offered multiple businesses in the same industry access to below-market-rate loans to support their growth. When an industry went through a downturn, the government encouraged the stronger players to buy out weaker ones, putting the best management in charge of the entire industry. The government applied this model to cars, chemicals, electronics—and liquor, creating the massive Hite Jinro beverage conglomerate.
In Soju’s home market of Korea, the beverage benefits from a liquor-first drinking culture. Korea’s liquor consumption is the highest in the world, at an average of almost 14 shots per adult per week, compared to roughly 6 in Russia.
More recently, Soju has benefited from Korea’s cultural moment. The rise of K-pop and the growing success of Korean movies internationally has renewed interest in Korean culture, and Soju—rarely seen in music videos but ubiquitous in Korean TV dramas—is one more way to experience it. And unlike some other forms of content-driven consumption, the revenue from selling them scales as people get more involved in the trend.","head":"The growing popularity of the world\'s most consumed alcohol: Soju","body_links":"The single most consumed liquor brand on the planet isn’t a whiskey, vodka, rum, or gin; It’s Soju. This Korean drink owes its popularity to several factors: second-order consequences of some unique legal issues, Korea’s drinking culture, and, more recently, the rise of Korean music and cinema.
In the US, liquor laws give Soju a boost. Because of its low alcohol content, it can be sold at restaurants that have a beer and wine license but no liquor license, which often costs more. And because it’s usually consumed in shots, it’s a popular substitute for liquor.
Historically, one early reason for Soju’s success is the Korean industrial development model. In the 60s and 70s, the Korean government offered multiple businesses in the same industry access to below-market-rate loans to support their growth. When an industry went through a downturn, the government encouraged the stronger players to buy out weaker ones, putting the best management in charge of the entire industry. The government applied this model to cars, chemicals, electronics—and liquor, creating the massive Hite Jinro beverage conglomerate.
In Soju’s home market of Korea, the beverage benefits from a liquor-first drinking culture. Korea’s liquor consumption is the highest in the world, at an average of almost 14 shots per adult per week, compared to roughly 6 in Russia.
More recently, Soju has benefited from Korea’s cultural moment. The rise of K-pop and the growing success of Korean movies internationally has renewed interest in Korean culture, and Soju—rarely seen in music videos but ubiquitous in Korean TV dramas—is one more way to experience it. And unlike some other forms of content-driven consumption, the revenue from selling them scales as people get more involved in the trend.","replaced_keywords":{"Soju":"Soju"}},{"body":"Like sober bars and 0% ABV beer, the rise of non-alcoholic gin highlights an important facet of the growing “sober curious” movement: Most people don’t want to have to stop socializing in bars or drinking their favorite cocktails — they just want to do so without the effects of alcohol.
Non-alcoholic gin brands like Ceder’s and Seedlip position their products as “gin alternatives” better suited to grown-up drinks than the fruity mocktails of decades past. With their sleek branding and sophisticated ingredients, they’re also able to maintain a similar premium price point to alcoholic gin.
As in the case of the company Athletic Brewing, the business models that are gaining the most traction are those that allow consumers to maintain some of their old habits while shifting their consumption in meaningful ways.","head":"Non-Alcoholic Alcohol","body_links":"Like sober bars and 0% ABV beer, the rise of non-alcoholic gin highlights an important facet of the growing “sober curious” movement: Most people don’t want to have to stop socializing in bars or drinking their favorite cocktails — they just want to do so without the effects of alcohol.
Non-alcoholic gin brands like Ceder’s and Seedlip position their products as “gin alternatives” better suited to grown-up drinks than the fruity mocktails of decades past. With their sleek branding and sophisticated ingredients, they’re also able to maintain a similar premium price point to alcoholic gin.
As in the case of the company Athletic Brewing, the business models that are gaining the most traction are those that allow consumers to maintain some of their old habits while shifting their consumption in meaningful ways.","replaced_keywords":{"Athletic Brewing":"Athletic Brewing"}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}}],"meta_desc":"Dive into the current trends in alcohol brands, consumption and production, as well as what the future might hold for the industry.","cta_header":"See all the Alcohol Trends"},{"desc":"The top Drinks Trends of 2022 including everything from Air Up Bottle to Milkis","name":"Drinks","slug":"drink-trends","title":"Drink Trends","trends":["Air Up Bottle","Milkis","Liquid Death","Mogu Mogu Drink","BeatBox Drink","Taro Milk Tea","Canned Boba","Celsius Drink","Poppi Soda","Not Milk","Mullein Tea","Karak Chai","Olipop","Ceremonial Cacao","Ginger Shots","Oat Milk","Athletic Brewing","Blue Lotus Tea","Adaptogen","Sober Carpenter"],"insights":[{"body":"A new water bottle startup is making more than $100M per year selling flavored water that isn’t actually flavored at all.
The company, Air Up, adds a scented ring around the lip of the bottle that fools users’ senses into thinking that what they’re drinking tastes great, just because it smells great. As the company puts it, “Good taste doesn\'t need sugar.”
Diet sodas, first introduced in the mid-1900s, were intended to help consumers reduce their caloric intake–but in reality, many use them as an excuse to eat a higher calorie meal. This is consistent with the theory of moral licensing, where, in the context of fast food, consumers comfortably combine a healthy food option with a less healthy, indulgent one. Air Up leans into this effect, but for the better, letting consumers’ bodies get the benefit of plain water and their brains get the benefit of the sweet flavor.
This isn’t the first time a company has played these games. The interplay between smell and taste has long been known to businesses who have gone so far as to pump artificial smells into their restaurants in an attempt to make their food taste better.","head":"Flavored Water That Isn\'t Really Flavored","body_links":"A new water bottle startup is making more than $100M per year selling flavored water that isn’t actually flavored at all.
The company, Air Up, adds a scented ring around the lip of the bottle that fools users’ senses into thinking that what they’re drinking tastes great, just because it smells great. As the company puts it, “Good taste doesn\'t need sugar.”
Diet sodas, first introduced in the mid-1900s, were intended to help consumers reduce their caloric intake–but in reality, many use them as an excuse to eat a higher calorie meal. This is consistent with the theory of moral licensing, where, in the context of fast food, consumers comfortably combine a healthy food option with a less healthy, indulgent one. Air Up leans into this effect, but for the better, letting consumers’ bodies get the benefit of plain water and their brains get the benefit of the sweet flavor.
This isn’t the first time a company has played these games. The interplay between smell and taste has long been known to businesses who have gone so far as to pump artificial smells into their restaurants in an attempt to make their food taste better.","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"Producing a shelf-stable version of an existing beverage is a good way to grow the market. Similar to how battery-powered devices are particularly popular in places with intermittent electricity, canned goods can become popular in places with initially unreliable or unavailable infrastructure.
In fact, milk has already undergone this evolution. While Americans are used to buying refrigerated milk, much of the rest of the world buys unrefrigerated boxed milk that has a 6-9 month shelf life. It’s called UHT milk and is made by momentarily heating milk to a high temperature to sterilize it. The UHT process has helped milk penetrate into new markets and, today, milk’s adoption in China, for example, is growing at a higher rate than ever before.
The benefits of shelf stability are now coming to boba tea in the form of canned boba; searches and online discussion of the term are at an all-time high.
Being shelf-stable also helps to make boba a snack. If people can consume it at any time, they\'ll keep it with them–in the car or on a hike, for example–and that reinforces the habit.
Another contributing factor to the rise of canned boba is the speed at which boba itself is becoming more popular. Boba’s popularity has outpaced retail infrastructure such that consumers in rural areas wanting boba are too far from trendy areas, forcing them to buy it online, in cans.","head":"The Rise of Canned Boba","body_links":"Producing a shelf-stable version of an existing beverage is a good way to grow the market. Similar to how battery-powered devices are particularly popular in places with intermittent electricity, canned goods can become popular in places with initially unreliable or unavailable infrastructure.
In fact, milk has already undergone this evolution. While Americans are used to buying refrigerated milk, much of the rest of the world buys unrefrigerated boxed milk that has a 6-9 month shelf life. It’s called UHT milk and is made by momentarily heating milk to a high temperature to sterilize it. The UHT process has helped milk penetrate into new markets and, today, milk’s adoption in China, for example, is growing at a higher rate than ever before.
The benefits of shelf stability are now coming to boba tea in the form of canned boba; searches and online discussion of the term are at an all-time high.
Being shelf-stable also helps to make boba a snack. If people can consume it at any time, they\'ll keep it with them–in the car or on a hike, for example–and that reinforces the habit.
Another contributing factor to the rise of canned boba is the speed at which boba itself is becoming more popular. Boba’s popularity has outpaced retail infrastructure such that consumers in rural areas wanting boba are too far from trendy areas, forcing them to buy it online, in cans.","replaced_keywords":{"Canned Boba":"canned boba"}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}},{"body":"","head":"","body_links":"","replaced_keywords":{}}],"meta_desc":"Discover what\'s trending in the world of drinks, from the latest juices and drink ingredients to the most popular non-alcoholic options.","cta_header":""}],"resourceType":"category"}}}'