On June 7, Info-Presse organized a day devoted to the food sector, with the theme “Marketing and Food – Innovation, transformation, education: the new face of the industry.” It was a very interesting day that provided very valuable information and meetings. The panellists selected for the event remained available throughout the day so participants could to talk with them and even enjoy a sort of consulting opportunity…for free…
To learn more about the day’s program and panellists, please click here.
Noteworthy news in our sector
Tish Van Dyke, global sector chair, food & beverage for Edelman, shared news on current food trends developed by the New York-based communications marketing firm’s worldwide research teams. While her list is too long to cover in detail here, when asked to specify the most important trends impacting on the produce sector, Van Dyke pointed out 3 factors in particular:
- “Hero fruits and vegetables,” a subset of “hero foods,” the common but precious produce that can be grown locally in response to demands on sustainable development and health issues.
- R&D to ensure that we’ll be able to feed 9 billion people. The interesting suggestion is that it might be possible to grow fruits and vegetables almost anywhere in an eco-responsible way…though insects and seaweed are still strong food source trends.
- Availability of value-added produce – fruits and vegetables presented with other products, making it possible to change them from mere convenience items to major profit generators.
Van Dyke also gave an example of a tie-in with virtual reality that could show the distribution chain for a given fruit, and help consumers understand more about the value of a food item that we all enjoy.
More generally speaking, here are a few other trends that the speaker presented:
- Seaweed: In Chile, the opening up of this market represents some 30,000 jobs.
- Halal certification: This market represents 17% of the food and beverage industry in the US.
- Online shopping: A major trend that will continue to grow and evolve in a huge way, driven by Gen Z consumers, in the next 5 to 10 years. The challenge here will be to overcone consumer loyalty to bricks-and-mortar retail chains.
