Provenance expected to transform food in 2019

Food and beverage businesses are expected to promote provenance, authenticity and artisanal processes in products next year, according to a report from New Nutrition Business.

The report, 10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition and Health 2019, suggests even larger companies are adopting the idea of their foods and beverages having provenance, with a backstory anchored in heritage and trust and made in a traditional, artisanal way.

Julian Mellentin, Director of New Nutrition Business, said: “The success of the craft beer and sourdough bread markets, which are fuelled by provenance, gives a taste of what the future will look like for many categories.”

After years of decline, the bread market in the UK grew 4.3% in 2017 thanks to premium-priced artisanal products such as sourdough. Other countries have experienced a similar increase in the popularity of these products, with artisanal bread growing 15% in four years to become a $1.12 billion market in Canada and sourdough bread accounting for 20% of sales at Spanish bakery chain Panishop.

Dairy is the latest category to harness the power of provenance. Mellentin draws on the example of Yoplait’s Oui yoghurt, stating its success “shows how connecting to the key trends is the surest way to increase your chances of success, even for the very largest companies”.

Once the market leader in the US yoghurt market, Yoplait was late to enter the Greek race, and as a result it still lags behind Chobani and Danone. Its Oui ‘French-style’ yoghurt brand is sold in traditional single-serve glass jars and is made with non-GMO ingredients like whole milk, pure cane sugar, real fruit and yoghurt cultures, with no artificial preservatives, flavours or colours. The brand is on track for $100 million in annual sales, despite selling at a 200% premium to regular yoghurt (on a price per kilo basis), and in a year in which yoghurt consumption in the US fell slightly.

Investing in packaging that cultivates the authentic feel, using natural ingredients and offering products that are associated with a particular place can all provide opportunities for businesses to succeed in terms of provenance.

“Oui by Yoplait shows how the provenance trend is fast transforming mainstream brands,” Mellentin said. “And it shows that wise companies will always tap into several of the 10 key trends, because it’s connecting to multiple trends that fuels the biggest successes.”

As well as provenance and authenticity, New Nutrition Business predicted health will remain a high priority for consumers into 2019, with trends such as digestive wellness, fragmentation and personalisation, plant-based, protein and sugar.

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