THG Food and Technology 2022 Report Cover

From kitchen gadgets, devices and apps to hydroponic farming, cellular dairy and regenerative agriculture, how we “do” food — grow it, manufacture it, plan it, source it, and finally prepare it — has taken giant leaps forward in high-tech directions in recent years, and the pace of such innovation is only accelerating.

Our fourth study of the year, Food & Technology 2022, is currently fielding and explores the consumer view on innovation and science in the realm of “food-tech.”

Advances in manufacturing, agriculture and biology are yielding new ingredients in diverse categories of foods and beverages. Robots are beginning to make and deliver our food. At home, our kitchens (and the culinary devices and gadgets they contain) are becoming "smarter” and more connected, offering both greater control over and automation of how we store, cook, and even grow and dispose of food.

The Hartman Group’s Food & Technology 2022 study builds on and updates our 2019 research and explores evolving consumer awareness, attitudes, usage, and drivers around a range of food-tech advances and innovations. In particular, the study explores technologies related to food production and in-home food management through the consumer lens.

Key areas of investigation and research questions we are examining include:

  • What are general levels of consumer awareness, attitudes, and beliefs related to tech-forward food production technologies? Topic areas include, but are not limited to, hydroponic farming, vertical agriculture, regenerative agriculture, plant-based proteins (produced to mimic the taste, texture, and cooking experience of meat), cellular dairy and cultured meat, precision fermentation, AI-driven food science/production, and bioengineered/genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

  • What are demographic and attitudinal profiles of consumers more (or less) interested in innovative food and beverage products and technologies?

  • What are current (or potential) consumer purchase and usage of new in-home food-tech? In-home food management technologies to be explored include apps, “smart” kitchen devices and cooking appliances (e.g., ovens, refrigerators, composters, at-home vertical agriculture, etc.).

  • What are consumer language and connotations related to tensions between nature/natural and science/technology in foods and beverages?

  • What are the expectations and relative importance of values and attributes related to factors like price, taste, health, sustainability, production/processing, ethics, animal welfare and social welfare in motivating acceptance and purchase of tech-forward food and beverage products?

  • What are the occasions, categories, and contexts in which consumers are most receptive to novel food-tech products and technologies?

Learn More About Food & Technology 2022

Looking forward, Food & Technology 2022 will advise on how food and beverage CPG, food retail and foodservice companies should engage and communicate with consumers about technological innovations related to the food and beverage industry. If you’d like to learn more about the study, you can download an overview and order form here.

Learn more about how Hartman’s syndicated reports can be an essential resource to help you navigate the way forward in these uncertain times. Contact: melissa@hartman-group.com