Consumer Trends
Consumer trends, insights and preferences
Consumer Trends
The supermarket threat
The new Whole Foods Market in Portland, Maine, is a 48,000-square-foot behemoth, just two blocks off the turnpike spur that connects Maine’s largest city with a string of affluent towns along the coast.
Consumer Trends
Payment preferences are evolving
Consumer payment preferences are changing with the times.
Side dishes are turning into a main focus for many operators. “They used to be one of those things you could ignore," said Kay Logsdon, editor-in-chief of The Food Channel. "They were just 'there.' But lately we've noticed that side dishes are a prominent part of the meal—to the point of overtaking the center-of-the-plate."
Bacon mania is about to reshape restaurants’ dessert and drink menus, but the dining world may yet be spared the likes of pork belly pie or bacon mojitos, suggests new research from Packaged Facts. The researcher attributes the bacon craze to consumers’ embrace of a “deep smoky flavor,” and predicts that’s the element likely to show up in treats and cocktails.
Snacking is good for you, according to the Chicago-based NPD Group. In its recent report titled “Snacking in America,” the market research company looked at Americans’ eating habits over a two-year period. The results suggest that the most health-conscious consumers snacked most often and chose from a wide variety of healthy snacks.