Consumer Insights

As the consumer landscape continues to shift and evolve, how will food retailers and restaurants move into the next generation of loyalty?

No matter how difficult it is to achieve such a meal, consumers still place a big emphasis on dinner.

Gen Z diners seek healthy food, restaurant promotions

Plant-based products and diets have been center stage as of late, making it easy to overlook that many consumers are still very interested in actual meat and poultry.

While meal kit delivery companies have certainly captured the imaginations of investors and the media, consumers are a different story.

Every year the team at Datassential comes together to develop our list of the flavors and ingredients that should be on the food industry’s radar in the years ahead.

From chatbots to voice technology, read about how food and beverage brands are adapting their communication strategies for today's digital consumers.

Looking back on yet another year of dynamic change in the food and beverage industry, one constant we see is that consumers are still the major disruptive force.

As with many consumer-driven mega-trends that have achieved mainstream stature following years of lurking on the fringes of culture, consumer involvement with all things “sustainable” is now at an all-time high.

We not only uncover how the subgroups within this generation think and behave differently, but we also dive into how millennials differ from the population overall. Here are five early findings.

A recent report identified millennials, customer service and engagement as major social trends. Find out how they play into SmartBrief's coverage of food and beverage news.

While shopping online for groceries is on the uptick, The Hartman Group’s Food Shopping in America 2017 report finds that it has yet to detract from the number of in-person trips to traditional brick-and-mortar food retailers.

There’s a new seafood diet in town – and no, we’re not talking about the “see food and eat it” diet.

Restaurants often have a mountain of data at their fingertips, but aren’t sure how to turn it into useful insights that can drive sales. These expert tips can help.

Using personalized marketing campaigns and owned media can make messaging more effective and reach a greater number of consumers, said panelists at the recent GMA Leadership Forum.

As consumers increase their use of digital devices while shopping, grocers and CPG brands must evolve to stay relevant. Speakers at the recent GMA Leadership Forum shed light on how these firms can optimize their use of digital platforms.

As consumers continue to create market opportunities for specialty food and beverage products viewed as higher quality, we are often asked "Who is the premium consumer?”

Not that long ago, “eating in” could only mean one of two things: buying groceries and cooking from scratch or ordering delivery or take out from a restaurant. Today “foodservice at home” means much more.

Concentrating on upping fresh perimeter experiences, food retailers have been savvy to the fresh trend for some time, and a small number, have even emerged as talented grocerant operators.

As craft beverages proliferate, many in the industry are wondering what qualifies a drink as "craft"

Tea is growing in popularity as new varieties and brands come onto the market. Could it overtake coffee as the drink of the moment?

Over the next year, consumer spending in healthcare foodservice is expected to grow 2.1%, a slightly stronger growth figure than that of the foodservice industry overall.

As an anchor point to innovate around, our increasing propensity to snack throughout the day presents multiple opportunities for food and beverage companies in terms of meeting the needs of new, flexible eating styles.

Looking ahead, for both natural and organic products, consumer culture sees nature, rather than science, as the route to a better world, particularly in food.

We are now a nation of snackers! As The Hartman Group’s, The Future of Snacking 2016 report finds, 91% of consumers snack multiple times throughout the day. Here's everything you need to know about snacking occasions.

While salads may have had the reputation of being a ‘diet’ food or just a side, that’s no longer the case.

For today’s consumers, food is now a cultural product to discover, share, make and trade, and this reconnection with food and its origins is encouraging a new level of participation.

What’s the next _______? New ingredients and flavors are popping up on menus at a rapid pace, so this year Datassential expanded its annual list of 10 ingredients to watch to include 5 more.

Do consumer really dislike big food companies? Is big food’s day of reckoning at hand?

The craft beverage industry has given us beer, spirits and soda -- so has the time arrived for craft wine to take hold?

What do the words “delicious” or “fresh” say about a restaurant’s menu? A lot, according to Dan Jurafsky, a linguistics professor at Stanford University.

To say that organic products have mainstreamed would be a mild understatement.

Looking ahead, food and beverage businesses should be aware of what Generation Alpha—the generation after Gen. Z—will be seeking.

Supermarket prepared food departments are the fastest-growing segment of the foodservice industry, and in the past few years, consumer perceptions of supermarket prepared foods have risen sharply.

Key behavioral trends driven by changing shoppers are impacting supermarket shopping, including a shift toward the perimeter of the store, acceleration of e-commerce and changing households and meal consumption patterns.

Dessert is a category that few decision-makers can ignore – after all, over 85% of consumers eat a dessert within any given week.

In foodservice of the past, processed uniformity in food reassured consumers of quality and safety in products, but today such characteristics are anathema to many.

Revealing ingredient origin in product names and marketing claims creates a feeling of authenticity, and can increase brand integrity.

The topic of younger consumers influencing our culture is a constant headline these days, in part because of the sheer scope of their numbers, and also for their impact on shopping and consumption.