Trend News
In each edition we will bring you some of the best and also most strange new product concepts to emerge on the global stage.
Home-delivered take-away food
More often than not, opening your home-delivered take-away food results in a slight dropping of the shoulders. Food just doesn’t travel well.
The chefs at Maple endeavoured to solve delivery’s most puzzling conundrums: which foods travel well and which don’t; how to plate and pack meals to survive high-speed bicycle delivery.
To keep it speedy, Maple partly relies on technology. An app tracks the timing of everything, from cooking to delivering, and maps out the fastest route, factoring in things like traffic and even the time it takes to get to a sixth floor walk-up, and learning as it goes. Deliveries go out in batches from a commissary kitchen with delivery people on either bikes or on foot who follow the route they’re given. https://maple.com/.
No time to wait
Brew & Brew in Austin, Texas have introduced an ordering app which allows customers to order and pay for food on their mobiles then go to the restaurant to collect.
In order to ensure the customer gets the freshest meal, the food will be prepared just in time for the customer arrive. The prediction technology is designed to track users as they get close to the store using the GPS feature on their phone. When the customer gets close, the staff in the restaurant receive an alert and then proceed to prepare the order.
3D Printed Food
Barilla, the world’s top pasta seller, is working on a 3D pasta printer for restaurants. The machine would be able to print 15 to 20 pieces every two minutes, getting a pasta dish to a diner in just a few minutes. It would also allow for custom-designed pasta shapes.
Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn is using a 3D printer to allow customers to design, print, and buy customised cake decorations. Shoppers are asked to create designs using Doodle 3D, which then converts the illustrations to printable models. The printer then releases the designs in molten chocolate right onto ready-made bakery products.
Next-level personalisation is important for customers who are seeking unique and one-of-a-kind experiences. In the grocery industry, the challenge will be to combine mass convenience with opportunities to customise.
Retail Farmers’ Markets
Supermarkets and food shops are moving to replicate the look and feel of farmers markets.
CARREFFOUR, – Italy
Carrefour has opened their first Gourmet Market in Milan. It has a genuine marketplace full of fresh products, a fish department offering fresh fish, a cheese showroom, an amazing bakery department offering fresh pizza and bread, a coffee and tea corner for connoisseurs and of course a wine department with tasting opportunity.
Carrefour focuses on fresh products and product expertise, the market’s style is kept subtle and a simple design language gives it a modern look.
Dates
Every once in a while, we find an ingredient that appears everywhere we look, at the moment it is dates. Recipes and menus are awash with them.
The tendency is use them as a natural sweetener. High in sugar content, but with a superior air that makes them agreeable, they are recommend for use in smoothies and alternative baked goods. No longer are they reserved just for sticky toffee pudding!
When acting alone they seem to be finding their way onto menus as accompaniments to sharp cheeses and Middle Eastern cuisine.
Sweet and savoury, a selection from menus in the UK.
- Roasted loin of Highland venison, honey spiced beetroots, date & black tea purée, pickled pears. Pollen Street Social
- Medjool Date Soufflé with Salustiana Orange Ice Cream and Salted Toffee. The Square
- Crispy Pig’s Head with Spiced Date Puree, Apple, Plum and Pancetta. Hand and Flowers
- Kirin style brill with red date and eryngii mushroom. Hakkasan – Mayfair
- Free range chicken with cardamom, date, onion, sumac and sweet paprika. Nopi
- Diver caught scallops with spiced peanut granola, lime and date puree. Sir Charles Napier
- Lentil, chickpea and mixed squash tagine with pickled lemon and date couscous and spiced yoghurt. Mildreds
- Buttermilk Pannacotta with Majool dates, clementines and pistachio. Royal Oak
- Tunisian Roasted Veggie & Feta Salad marinated feta, red & white quinoa, green beans, peppers, roasted squash, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, chopped medjool dates & chick peas with sweet onion & cumin dressing. Giraffe
- Raw food cake with organic brazil nuts, dates, coconuts, orange, cacao, goji berries, matcha tea, spiraling, cardamom & cinnamon, decorated with lime cream, cashews & coconut. Sticks n’ Sushi
- Breast of Duck with Turnips, Foie Gras, Spiced Dates and Smoked Iberico Lardo. Kitchen W8
•Health Nut Bowl Greek yoghurt & fresh cut fruit, chopped medjool dates, almonds, pistachios & orange blossom honey. Giraffe
Vietnamese Street Food
Rolld restaurant chain
It is a Vietnamese Street Food concept that has been adapted to bring traditional Vietnamese cuisine to the masses.
Their most popular items are Rolld Soldiers, rice paper rolls with a modern twist, Mr Bun Mee the Vietnamese-French baguette and Uncle Pho.
The restaurants interiors are aimed to attract “hipsters” and are definitely in the same league as the likes of KFC, McDonalds and Hungry Jacks.
Sensory Lab
Sensory Lab’s aim is to help their customers find new ways to appreciate coffee from a variety of brewing methods to providing sensory tests with tasting notes as well providing hardware for coffee at home.
Naturally there are still the old favourites available such as an espresso. But the hope is that customers will try something new. It is much more than a café, more like a tasting space, if you are keen to find out a little more about what single origin exactly is.
Nduja
Nduja is a spicy, spreadable pork sausage from Italy.
It is typically made with parts of the pig such as the shoulder, belly and jowl, as well as tripe, roasted peppers and a mixture of spices. It is a Calabrian variation of salami.
Nduja is cured in a casing like hard salami, but it maintains a soft texture that is spreadable at room temperature. It is perfect when spread on grilled bread, in a sandwich, or on pizza. It adds amazing flavour to pasta sauces, vegetables and cooked beans.
New Products
‘Willy Wonka’ Tic Tacs
Tic Tac Mixers are a first-of-its-kind, dual-flavoured sweet that changes from one flavour to another as you let them melt in your mouth for a small, yet exciting and unexpected experience.
The new Tic Tac Mixers mints are an innovative product that provide a flavour changing experience. The first flavour is evident as it touches your tongue. As you let it melt in your mouth, a second tasty flavour emerges to surprise and delight. The first two products within this new sub-brand highlight refreshing beverage flavours. They include:
- Cherry Cola flavour Tic Tac Mixers: transition from a cherry flavour to a classic cola flavour
- Peach Lemonade flavour Tic Tac Mixers: change from a peach flavour to the sweet flavour of lemonade
New product launches reveal that candy and snack manufacturers are looking beyond the category for flavour inspiration this year.
Breakfast staples like maple, waffles, and bacon are highlighted and will be hitting stores shelves soon, as are classic flavours inspired by childhood memories like s’mores, birthday cake and lemonade.
McDonald’s has designed a brilliant new takeout bag that turns into a tray.
The BagTray was developed by McDonald’s Hungary.
Pulling a strip of paper near the bottom of the bag detaches the tray, which is made from reinforced cardboard.
The tray acts as a plate, making it a lot easier to eat food on the go.
Pop Tarts ice cream sandwiches.
Global breakfast food manufacturer Kellogg’s has launched Pop-Tart ice cream sandwiches in Australia.
The recipes will look and taste decadent
Eg salted white chocolate ice cream with coconut jam sandwiched between Strawberry Sensation Flavour Pop-Tarts, also fresh banana ice cream with dark chocolate ganache, potato chips and dark chocolate caramel sauce sandwiched between Chocotastic Pop-Tarts.
Bubbles home-made Mochi ice cream
Mochi ice cream is creamy gourmet ice cream wrapped in a sweetened rice confection and comes in a bite-size, one and a quarter ounce ball of happiness! The perfect ending to an amazing meal or anytime for a gourmet sweet snack.
Australian Home Made Ultimate Collection
The packaging alone is enough to make you reach for this decadent product.
These ice creams just stick to the simple flavours and execute them brilliantly. No fancy flavour combos, you just get what you see, burst of intense flavour. What makes them so uber premium? They’re only available on request!
Flavours are:
Vanilla
Chocolate
Hazelnut
Lemon sorbet
Mango sorbet
Strawberry sorbet
Nut Free butters
Notnuts crunchy butter made with nutritious pulses and grains.
Activated Almonds
Soaked (sprouted) to release their enzyme inhibitors, activated nuts are more easily digested than raw or roasted nuts, allowing for greater absorption of nutrients.
Gimme Chips
Seaweed rice chips
Edible Insects by Vita Bug
 Healthy sustainable cricket protein powder. Good source of calcium and iron.
Squid Ink Tempura
Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks have launched its latest addition to its Singapore and Malaysia menu. They have introduced Squid Ink Tempura using a highly guarded seafood based recipe.
The squid ink tempura is jet black as it is infused with a dose of black squid ink. In line with the black theme, the new creation is also being given custom printed matt black paper bags. Customers will be asked if they want a sprinkle of “fairy dust parsley” for extra flavour. Aside from the very unusual appearance, it has been proven to be rich in iron and antioxidants and scientists believe that the antioxidants may be linked to a lower risk of heart disease in humans.
Vitacress Herbs launches BBQ herbs into M&S
Vitacress, the UK’s supplier of fresh herbs, has launched a new BBQ mix of fresh herbs into Marks & Spencers’ stores, in time for summer.
The product, which includes fresh rosemary, thyme and chives in equal 10g measures, has been specially designed to create a mix for BBQ marinades on both meat and fish.
Kettle Chips launches Crispy Bacon & Maple Syrup flavour
Kettle Chips is introducing a new seasoning to its range of hand cooked chips – Crispy Bacon & Maple Syrup – its first offering made with real meat.
Kettle Chips aims to help retailers to capitalise on consumer trends towards better quality snacking options with no artificial ingredients or added MSG.
Kettle Chips’ in-house chef Chris Barnard has developed the new seasoning which includes real bacon sourced locally from H.V. Graves, Norfolk family butchers, and combined it with the sweetness of Maple Syrup.
Andrew Slamin, Kettle Foods’ Marketing Director said:
“Lots of people have been asking us to make a real meat variant and Bacon is one of the UK’s most loved crisp flavours”.
Free’ist expands sugar and gluten free range
Free’ist, the Northern Irish specialist in free-from products has added popcorn, breakfast biscuits and marshmallows to its range.
Based in Belfast, the company is developing into one of the leading innovators in the fast growing free-from category.
The new product line-up features:
– Four popcorn flavours – sweet and savoury, caramel crunch, lightly sea salted and nacho cheese – all are free-from sugar and gluten, are low in calories and suitable for vegetarians and are in 130g bags.
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Our aim is simple; to keep our customers informed of the latest trends in the food industry and how TasteConnection can help you address those trends. In this edition we look at the latest trends within the industry.
In this edition we look at some exciting new trends and products in the global market.
