The concept of comfort food is taken a step further in artificial flavoring
Implications - Convenience reigns supreme amid hungry consumers, which is an aspect that's being evolved to a hyper-extreme level with elaborate recipes being adopted into flavoring. Speaking to the curious eater who craves home-cooked meals, but doesn't have the time to make them, the flavors are nostalgic and thus, as mentally stimulating as they are taste-wise. This offers a total sensory experience to evoke sentimentality and a sense of camaraderie with brands.
Trend Themes
1. Artificial Flavoring - The rise of artificial flavoring is catering to consumers' desire for convenience and nostalgia through flavors that imitate home-cooked meals, with disruptive innovation opportunities in the food and beverage industry for creating unique flavors with a focus on mental stimulation.
2. Unconventional Flavor Pairings - Creating unconventional flavor pairings, such as sweet and savory combinations, seafood-flavored snacks, and soup-infused chip flavors, offers disruptive innovation opportunities in the snack food industry by catering to adventurous eaters and expanding the range of flavor options available.
3. Limited Time Offers - Limited time snack food flavors, such as seasonal or holiday-inspired options, create a sense of urgency and exclusivity among consumers, leading to increased demand and disruptive innovation opportunities for releasing new and unique flavors periodically.
Industry Implications
1. Food and Beverage - The food and beverage industry can access disruptive innovation opportunities in the development and creation of unique flavor profiles and innovative food pairings to cater to consumer demand for convenience, nostalgia, and adventure.
2. Snack Food - The snack food industry can access disruptive innovation opportunities by exploring unconventional flavors, such as seafood and soup broth-infused chips, while also focusing on limited time offers to create urgency and exclusivity among consumers.
3. Marketing - Marketing professionals can access disruptive innovation opportunities in creating limited edition flavors to promote product launches and create buzz among consumers, while also utilizing nostalgia and adventurousness as key selling points to attract a wider audience.
