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Culture of Food: New Appetites, New Routines 2015

The consumers’ desire for better quality is rapidly becoming an everyday expectation. Culture of Food 2015 is a framework for understanding how consumers define premium quality and make decisions about premium products, brands and experiences.

This report is a deep dive into America’s diverse and dynamic food and beverage culture as viewed through the lens of the consumer. It explores the messy and yet-to-be articulated opportunity spaces in our food and beverage culture that are fertile hunting grounds for innovation in products, services and menus.

For over 25 years The Hartman Group has been tracking a fundamental shift in food and beverage culture. We are eating and drinking alone more and snacking more. Our planning horizon for deciding, shopping and preparing foods has compressed to an expectation for “planned spontaneity.” At the same time, many of us have elevated expectations about our food and beverage experience, with “foodie” activities infiltrating mainstream eating in uneven ways.

Today, inspiration, whims, stress levels and in-the-moment cravings dictate an increasing number of everyday food and beverage occasions. As we outsource the work of food and beverage to others (retailers, food service and manufacturers), we are no longer bound by our family food traditions, nor are we limited by our own cooking skills. With fewer traditional rules to discipline our choices and routines, how are we inspired to choose what to eat or drink and whether or not to cook on different occasions? And how does who we are shape how we choose? Culture of Food 2015 provides the answers to these, and many more business critical questions.