Since Monday, I’ve been at FMI 2010, the Food Marketing Institute Show in Las Vegas. As with every industry, the economy has impacted grocery shopping, but unlike most other retail segments, we can’t stop eating. We’re just spending less.

In seminars, speakers focused on private label, defined value (not just by price) and demonstrated the importance of making an emotional connection with the consumer. Retailers and manufacturers are recognizing the need to deliver information using technology to reach target audiences with information they want, when they want it and in the way the want it. This includes mobile platforms to deliver recipes, online couponing, and presence on Twitter and Facebook. [more…]

Recently, I was looking through old files, trolling for recipe inspiration for a Twitter campaign. It was a revelation.

When you’ve worked in the food business as long as I have, you’re aware of the constant evolution, of course. We try to anticipate where food is heading and to catch the wave for our clients.

But it’s only by looking back over decades that the true magnitude of change becomes evident. Old recipes often called for bouillon cubes instead of chicken or beef broth. A daring cook added a bit of curry powder, garlic powder or a touch of paprika. “Parsley” meant curly parsley, not the flat-leaf Italian kind. Nuts were pretty exclusively for desserts and baked goods. [more…]

Some interesting stats culled from various news outlets, in no particular order. Food for thought.

• 32% - percentage of social network users who use the Internet to pursue their interest in food/cooking — Food Navigator, 7/17/09
• $57 million - value of savings shoppers could realize from coupons they printed in June from Coupons.com and the Coupons.com publisher network (130% increase over the year-ago period) — Progressive Grocer, 7/21/09
• 42.1% - supermarkets’ share of food retail dollars in 2008. Supercenters, warehouse clubs and limited assortment stores (such as Aldi and Trader Joe’s) continue to wrest share from supermarkets. — Mediapost, 7/7/09
• 56% - number of consumers eating dinner at home more often — Progressive Grocer, 5/14/09
• $81 billion - private label sales in the U.S. (up 10.2% over the past year) — Food Navigator, 6/22/09
• 52% - percentage of consumers who were “highly loyal” to consumer packaged goods brands in 2007 who became less loyal or shifted brand loyalty the following year — Supermarket News, 6/22/09
• 59 - number of shopping trips the average American household made to supermarkets in 2008 (13% fewer than in 2001) — Reuters, 6/29/09

INSIGHT: The retail food industry continues to evolve as the economy shocks consumers out of profligate habits. Bad news for some food marketers offers opportunity for others who have a compelling value message.

The 55th Summer Fancy Food Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New City ended on Tuesday. I spent two days walking the aisles, sampling judiciously and trying to get a handle on upcoming food trends. This is a big show — with more than 24,000 attendees and 2,300 exhibitors from 70 countries.

One day I walked the show with friends from a national magazine who were looking for food gift ideas for their holiday issue. The second day I walked with a friend from a leading foodservice magazine. It’s so much more interesting to traverse the vast halls with a companion and to see the show through another perspective. [more…]

Remember when food brands targeted women 25 to 54? Remember when we said nobody’s cooking so we can forget promoting food with recipes? How times have changed.

Recently, I found a darling Father’s Day card crafted by my son David when he was six. It was entitled, “Why I Love Dad,” and through pages of drawings, he counted the ways. In addition to the typical, “he takes me to the park,” David also added that “he buys us food” and “he does the laundry.” I’m sure his teacher wondered what mom was doing while dad did these chores. Sharing household responsibilities was an anomaly in that time. Not today.

Stephanie Azzarone in MediaPost asks, “Are dads the new moms?” We have been seeing this trend in newspapers, magazines and on TV. Sometimes it’s because mom prefers being in the workforce and is good at it, and dad takes the supporting homemaker role by choice. With more men out of work than women, dad may have lost his job and mom has become the breadwinner. [more…]

What’s hot in San Francisco? I asked popular chefs who were serving up extraordinarily delectable small plates at the Hawai’i Chamber of Commerce of Northern California’s Five Star Aloha gala Thursday evening. The event honored chef Roy Yamaguchi, one of the founders of the Hawai’i Regional Cuisine movement.

Ty Mahler, executive chef of Roy’s San Francisco said that right now, he’s crazy about abalone from New Zealand, tasty morsels that are ready to cook, no tenderizing needed. As a seasoning, he’s enamored of purple Iranian peppercorns that have a chocolately, leathery taste. Ty’s abalone was incredibly tender and delicious. And he spooned me a sample of the pepper so I could taste in isolation — it was very fragrant, intriguing and complex. [more…]

Recently, I went to a fabulous trends conference. I had always meant to join the Association of Consumer Trends and attend the annual Consumer Trends Forum. But I belong to so many organizations and attend so many conferences that it was just one too many.

This year, the conference was held in San Francisco so there was no excuse. No hotel, no airfare, just a quick trip to the Kabuki Hotel. I was glad I made the commitment. From the upbeat, high-energy keynote speech, Unlocking Cool and Exploiting Chaos, by Jeremy Gutche of TrendHunter.com; to the thoughtful talk from Slow Food USA’s president Josh Viertel; to the data-rich presentation by Lee Boyland of DYG Inc.; and the insightful look at Gen Y by Kara Nielsen, trendologist for the Center of Culinary Development; there was a lot to mull over and process following the two-day event. [more…]

Recently, I attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ conference in Denver. Attendance this year numbered 700, just half the usual expected for this major conference. The economy is taking its toll.

I was especially interested in a session called The Changing Food Section. With competition from blogs and Web sites, some newspaper food editors are going multi-media — producing their own videos, writing blogs and tweeting as a means of branding themselves. Imprinting a personality onto the community in multiple ways helps to make an editor a bit more indispensible to the newspaper. Imagine the uproar if the food editor who visibly and actively supports all community activities — even participating in a pancake eating contest (Flip videoed and linked to the newspaper’s Web site, of course) — is dismissed. Today’s food editors are covering the news and making themselves part of the story, 24/7. Good strategy for holding on to your job. [more…]

I have an age-coping mechanism. At the start of the New Year, when we all share a heightened awareness of time passing, I remind myself that I’ll be another year older. That way, when my birthday rolls around in August, I can happily enjoy the cake and ice cream without feeling morose.

Some people groan about growing older. I admit I do, too. But I am also grateful for that extra year to explore new foods and new trends. Most importantly, the years pay off in the kind of experience needed to be able to assess what’s really going on in the food world today and to put it in context. I’ve had a lucky head start, since I became an editor at a New York magazine at age 22. So I’ve been tracking trends for a good number of years. [more…]

Years ago, when I had a laundry product client, I wanted to do a PR campaign to promote using cloth diapers just one day a week to minimize disposables in the landfill. Thank heavens we didn’t try it. Who would give up a convenient behavior — using disposable diapers — for such an inconvenient option? It would take a lot more green commitment than could be inspired by a PR program to effect that revolution.

Until recently, the same was true of another convenient behavior, eating out. With foodservice sales increasing year upon year, family cooks were ready to hang up the apron. But not so fast. Home cooking is back with a vengence. With the economy in a tailspin, more consumers are going home to the range.

And that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Despite good news about the second-largest harvest of American corn, ever, and projections of record-breaking harvests of wheat and oilseeds from the world’s farmers this year, The Wall Street Journal reports that bumper crops will not offset increasing world demand. [more…]