SugarCreek: Brandworthy Food Solutions

“Artisanal,” “craft” and “locally-sourced” are three of the hottest new trends in food service today. Add these phrases to a food label or restaurant menu and consumers flock to these items.

On the flip side is genetically modified (“GM” or “GMO”) food, which has been engineered for specific characteristics like weed or drought resistance. In the eyes of many consumers, GMOs have become synonymous with “big food.” Rightly or wrongly, consumers consider GM food to not only be less nutritious, but also more harmful to the environment, according to FoodNavigator USA’s Elaine Watson.

Limited edition holiday food packaging can be a great marketing strategy to boost sales— or it can leave potential customers out in the winter cold. Major brands like Starbucks and Coca-Cola have been capitalizing on the holiday season for years to increase sales through iconic holiday packaging: think Starbucks’ red coffee cups or Coke’s polar bear holiday cans.

Over the summer, McDonalds reported the single greatest decline in same store sales in over a decade. Wendy's has unveiled a cost-cutting plan to cope with increased beef prices and disappointing sales. Burger King moved headquarters to more tax favorable Canada after buying out coffee-and-doughnut chain Tim Hortons. But, while traditional fast food has faced considerable struggles, fast casual venues like Chipotle, Five Guys and Panera have been gaining market share.

The spendy millennial diner wants more from their food and beverages. Not only do they desire delicious, healthy foods, they also crave a unique dining experience. Eating has evolved into an activity— one that is meant to be fully enjoyed and shared with friends and family. These millennial habits have given rise to new trends in food service that the industry can use to gain an all-new customer base while offering your established consumers something new and exciting.

In just a few short years, industry analysts will look back at 2013 as a major tipping point for the food service industry.

In that year, Chipotle posted a 9.3% sales gain while fast food giants like McDonalds and Burger King saw slumping sales, according to Ashley Lutz of the Business Insider, and the US saw a new kind of fast food concept make its mark.

The food service industry is constantly evolving as restaurants adjust to changing demographics, regional population shifts and a seemingly insatiable demand for “new.” Today, we’ll look at some new trends in food service that will impact how restaurants “go-to-market” in the coming years.

We've written before about how waste is the ultimate profit killer in the food service industry. That's not only true of consumable food waste, like mis-makes, re-makes, or otherwise uneaten served portions at restaurants, but also of wasteful, unnecessary packaging.

Writing in Forbes, Food Tech-Connect founder Danielle Gould said “We are at the beginning of the most radical transformation in our food industry since the Green Revolution. The Internet has, she notes, democratized and redefined how food is developed and distributed.

In one sense we have, as a nation, become more health-conscious over the past 30 or so years. Whereas in the 1980s, it was nothing to pile the kids in the car and head on down to McDonald's for a fast, easy dinner of Happy Meals and shakes, today most Americans at least recognize that this is not the healthiest option available.

People want to know what's in the food they eat. They peer at labels in markets, email food manufacturers, and grill their servers in restaurants. And now, a new food technology may give them the tools they need to learn more about their food at the molecular level.