Mintel at The Flavor Experience

Lori Daniel, MC for The Flavor Experience, presented an intriguing recap of “outlaw” foods, ingredients, and issues yesterday morning. Daniel’s delivered her speech in a humorous way – Kevin Bacon came up – but still managed to hit on a number of challenging points. In the course of her fast-forward review, she discussed how the pace of change and the breadth of consumer understanding has influenced the food industry. For example, butter became one of the first outlaws, to be replaced by margarine, only to find out that margarine too was unhealthy (more so even than butter), but then trans-fats were removed from margarine in response to consumers’ concerns, to now when (maybe) olive oil is the new butter.

Yet, there is a new worry – even the healthiest (or maybe we should say, least unhealthy) oils and fats cooked at high temperatures may produce toxins.

Among some of Daniel’s other points, she cited:

• The no/low carbohydrate craze,
• Increased sensitivity to special health issues such as “gluten free“,
• Heightened awareness of problematic ingredients such as HFCS and trans-fats,
• Social and ethical issues such as Fair Trade, GMO, and organic farming, and
• Anxiety regarding mercury levels in fish and E. coli in fruits & vegetables.

All of which add up to an unpredictable and tough environment in which to run a restaurant. Daniel seemed to place the burden firmly on the shoulders of operators and food service companies to anticipate and respond to changes in the market. From my perspective, it looks like a near-impossible to task to simultaneously maintain strong revenues and profits, satisfy your customer base, attract new customers while remaining true to your brand identity, and yet still be mindful of (and responsive to) emerging concerns and issues in the marketplace.

ML