Predictions From 4 Industry Leaders

As the global economy and markets continue to shift, predicting the future of food can be difficult. However, several trends are likely to have an impact on what and how people eat in the coming years. Technology, convenience and personalization are some of the top trends that will affect consumption. Four industry leaders shared their thoughts on the food industry's future in recent interviews: Ran Peled from CommonSense Robotics, Bruce Schroder from Moe’s Southwest Grill, Elana Karp from Plated and Christine Marcus from Alchemista.

Technology

People are changing the way they eat, cook and shop for food, and technology is one of the main reasons behind this. Grocery shopping has become more fragmented for families with spontaneous "fill in" shopping trips supplanting the traditional weekly stock-up trip because of e-commerce.

"In a 2018 consumer survey we conducted, more than 50% of the people reported they would prefer to receive a few smaller orders throughout the week rather than one large order each week. Acosta reports that 85% of consumers do not know what they are having for dinner until hours before mealtime. While Americans do dine out more than ever before, NPD reports that four out of five meals are still prepared at home. Americans are eating more meals at home today than they did a decade ago," Ran Peled, VP of marketing at CommonSense Robotics, says.


Technology is helping the dramatic shift away from the traditional weekly stock-up grocery trip to immediate, needs-based replenishment thanks to e-commerce. Consumer preferences for on-demand grocery delivery, within one to two hours, will only grow. Most consumers will look toward the brick-and-mortar grocery retailers they trust to meet this demand through online deliveries.

"A new report from Bain shows that a whopping 96% of consumers would look first to a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer for home delivery and 85% would select a store they already visit. While grocery retailers face tremendous challenges in the shift toward e-commerce, we believe that there is also a great opportunity for them to dominate in online grocery," Peled shares.