With consumers’ continuous pursuit of new products and tastes, food manufacturers are facing more and more pressure in product development. Flavor innovation without sacrificing the taste of the original product is a good entry point. Sarah Theodore, Manager of American Food and Beverage Research Department of Mintel, explains the trends of emerging food flavors as follows: the first way of innovating flavors is to improve existing products, and the second way is to create new flavors. Some new flavors really have the potential to bring consumers more satisfying experience.
She says that both approaches are likely to succeed, and the key is to discover flavors that are unexpected but relatively familiar to consumers. However, it is a long process to turn a new flavor into a trend, and it is not easy at all. Consumers wouldn’t jump from orange to durian all at once, and they wouldn’t give up chocolate or vanilla because they really like those flavors.
Of course, classic flavors can be improved through innovation. Take orange as an example. More and more brands use different kinds of oranges (such as blood orange and citrus) to broaden their product line. Citrus flavor is popular among non-alcoholic beverages in Latin America. Adding orange peel is another good example. Orange peel is not technically a new flavor, but it gives people a different image of the original product, which brings a brand new but comfortable feeling for consumers. Adding spices to products is another approach of innovation, such as adding cinnamon and five-spice powder to orange flavor. This trend will become increasingly obvious
FLOWER FLAVOR QUIETLY EMERGES
Mintel notices a slow-growing but influential flavor: flower and plant flavor. Theodore believes that the rise of flower flavor is due to consumers’ demand for natural products. Although it is currently only popular with a small group of people, it is developing steadily, especially in the field of ready-to-drink beverage, in which it grows the fastest compared with other flavors.
LOTS OF NUT AND SEED FLAVORS COME OUT
Interest in nut and seed-flavored products is rising for the same reason as that in flowerflavored products: consumers increasingly prefer products that are healthier, more natural and better for their health. In the eyes of consumers, nuts and seeds are not only healthy, but also provide them a chance to indulge themselves for a moment. This flavor can be added to various food categories, thus reducing the component of sugar, sodium and fat in the formula. For example, the recent explosive growth of nut milk is due to people’s perception of nuts as healthy food.
ALCOHOL FLAVOR MAKES CROSSOVER
Without using extra calories, fat or other nutrients, producers can create products that give a feeling of indulgence by adding alcohol flavor to non-alcoholic products. In Mexico, Modelo(a local brewery) works with an ice cream store to launch a wine-flavored ice cream. In Argentina, Beney (an alcoholic beverage distributor) joins forces with Oki Oki(a baked food brand) to launch a Fernet-flavored baked dessert. Kalsec, a fragrance and spice supplier, has gone even further by using its hop oil extraction technology to launch a series of beer flavors for food, such as Lemon Shandy, Porter, and “Pumpkin Spice and Wheat”. However, Theodore points out that alcohol flavors are a double-edged sword. On one hand, because the younger generation drinks more moderately, they may buy alcohol-flavored products to enjoy the taste of spirits while avoiding the harmful effects of alcohol. On the other hand, young people who do not drink may not be interested in these products, so the producers may eventually lose these consumers.
THE TREND OF LOW SUGAR IS CHANGING PEOPLE'S TASTE
The trend of low sugar is changing consumers' taste. They now prefer less sweet foods, which brings more opportunities for sour and salty desserts. Some food manufacturers have begun to focus on products that do not rely solely on sugar for giving a feeling of indulgence. For example, they make olive oil cakes with unsaturated fats. Some products even have the slogan: "bitter tastes better". Kokumi (strong taste) is also a trend that cannot be ignored. Although Kokumi is not a flavor, Mintel notices that it can effectively enhance the freshness of products. This function is achieved through fermentation of soybeans or yeast components.
ETHNIC FLAVOR AND SPICY FLAVOR ARE ENDURING
Although new flavors continue to emerge, mature flavors keep flourishing. For example, consumers' thirst for ethnic flavors and spicy flavors has never diminished. According to Joseph Poulson, a scientist from Kalsec, nearly a quarter of consumers believe travel encourages them to try new foods and flavors, and they hope to have the same experience at home. But 55% of the consumers say that they want something original rather than an improved version. Spicy flavors have been popular for several years, and it seems that the trend is growing instead of weakening. According to Poulson, 90 percent of consumers in the United States said they like spicy food, and a quarter said they ate more spicy food in 2017 than in the previous year. Additionally, half of the consumers think that spicy food is more delicious. These figures show a quite different image from the popular idea that Americans only eat light food and fear spicy food.
