SugarCreek: Brandworthy Food Solutions

Organic. Gluten free. Cupcakes. Bacon on everything.

These days, when a new food trend first rises to popularity, there’s no telling if the innovation will flame out quickly or catch on and become not just a trend but a permanent addition to restaurant menus, packaged meals and dinners eaten at home.

Cooking in a vacuum? While “under vacuum” may be the basic definition of sous vide, we don’t mean your basic upright Hoover.

Depending on economic conditions, American consumers can buy like there's no tomorrow (remember the "greed is good" mindset of the 1980s?) or exhibit cautious spending habits and purchase only what they absolutely need. Unemployment rates and inflation are known to heavily influence food industry trends, forcing food brands to re-imagine how they package and advertise their products.

One of the greatest food debates of modern times has been on the safety of genetically modified foods.

If you're after smoky, savory, fall off the bone ribs, then sous vide cooking— slow cooking vacuum-packed foods under a heated water bath— is the way to go. The sous vide method will help you to achieve incredible texture and consistency throughout the meat and will reduce your prep costs by saving energy.

The potential advantages of sous-vide (a French term meaning "under vacuum") cooking are great: you get great flavor, better texture and can lower your energy consumption and reduce waster, all while you enjoy chef-prepared foods. And because sous-vide foods are prepackaged under vacuum seal, they enjoy a particularly long shelf life— as in canned foods, there's no oxygen in the package to catalyze an aerobic decay process.

The restaurant industry's clientele is changing.

For many years, Baby Boomers have been the biggest spenders when it came to dining out. But now, a large, hyper-connected cohort with plenty of spending power is on the scene—Millennials, that group between 20 and 30 years old. They make up one-quarter of the US population, and their purchasing power totals over $200 billion, which is twice that of Generation X, those people who are now between 37 and 47 years old.

It’s no secret the population of the United States is rapidly graying— currently, about one in five Americans are over 65 and, according to the US Census Department, by 2030, people 65 and up will make up 35% of the country's population. And in the coming years, food manufacturers that can create products that satisfy the needs of this population are likely to see success.

The most innovative food brand of 2014 can teach other chains a thing or two about sustaining growth in an industry that is increasingly competitive. In a market seemingly untouched by the recent economic recovery, and often one characterized by fierce competition and lackluster returns, fast casual eatery Chipotle Mexican Grill is emerging as the year’s food brand powerhouse.

Millennials are taking over the world. Okay, that's a bit extreme, but consumers aged 18 to 34, who have a population of 80 million strong and are expected to exceed Boomers in purchasing power by 2018, are certainly changing breakfast trends.