The 2017 Top Food Trends Roundup Report

The new year is here, and with it comes another new season of food trend forecasts and analysis. Food manufacturers and food service operators want to know what their consumers want in new food items and flavors. Food ingredient marketers want to support their manufacturing and food service customers with consumer insights and with an array of new ingredient products and flavor solutions that can help keep them all on trend.

Upcoming Trends in 2017

Every year it seems like more and more food trend forecast reports are flooding the marketplace.  Each market research firm in the space has its report on the latest and greatest trends. Every trade magazine and industry website screams out headlines on the “Top Trends” and “Best Insights.” At the same time, every flavor company, ingredient marketer and food service supplier seems ready to put its own spin on the latest trends.

The team of food marketing analysts at Anderson Partners Food Ingredient Marketing is here to help you find your way through all that clutter and make sense of the new trends most important to you and your customers. For several years now, we have been publishing reports that “round up” the best trend forecasts, providing summaries of key trends and links that take you directly to the leading forecast reports. This year, our team has prepared three different Roundup Reports covering key trends for Consumers, Foodservice and Flavors.

Food Trends Roundup

In her 2017 Consumer Food Trends Roundup report, food marketing analyst Elizabeth Murphy closely examines the Innova Market Insights report on how ‘Clean Supreme’ Leads Top Trends for 2017.  Indeed, clean labels continue to be the leading food industry trend again this year.  The consumer trends round-up continues with the MarketWatch article on The Next Hot Trends in Food.  The roundup also includes Mintel’s latest report on Food & Drink Trends 2017 which explores the growing importance of convenience for time-starved consumers.

Liz Bloyd reports in this year’s Foodservice Trends Roundup that 2017 will continue to focus on the customer experience and on how their food gets to their plate. She links to the annual forecast report from The NPD Group that focuses on key trends to watch in 2017, including food delivery services, sourcing from local suppliers, more healthy choices and new twists to classic dishes. The latest report from Baum + Whiteman details many new twists including center-of-the-plate attention to vegetables, creative new breakfast options and the proliferation of new ice cream formats.

See Related: B2B Food Ingredient Marketers Can Learn from B2C Marketing

See Anderson Partners Roundup Report

This year’s Flavor Trends Roundup, from Deb Murray, explores how the flavor industry continues to search for innovative ways to answer consumers’ increasing demands for more exciting, natural flavors and exotic flavor combinations.  Links to reports from both the National Restaurant Association and Comax Flavors show how the search is around the world to find new flavors and flavor combinations to match consumers’ adventurous taste buds. The granddaddy of all flavor reports, The McCormick Flavor Forecast, also predicts how global flavors will make many different, unexpected appearances in both food service menus and new food products.

Overall, our Roundup Reports forecast an exciting year for the food industry. Many of the trends we’ve examined are focused on new ingredients in classical applications or on familiar ingredients in new applications.  Either way, it should be a very tasty new year!