Consumers have many product expectations, not just healthy and natural, but also quality, affordable price, health benefits, and excitement.
Brands are meeting these consumer needs with functional ingredients for mental wellness that are also well-crafted and can be personalised.
Innova Market Insights' latest report demonstrated the impact of consumer expectations on the food and beverage marketplace.
Ingredients and Beyond
Consumers are demanding added value, so product quality is essential, reflecting current food trends. Asian and Latin American consumers in particular said that the quality of private label products has improved. Changes to private label include premium alcoholic beverages, desserts, and ice cream, as well as meat and dairy.
Private label meat launches are growing, including premium meats and deli meat. One example is Kaufland hypermarkets' K-Classic Gourmet Sliced Smoked Garlic Salami, a deli product with a high Nutri-score and a high score on Germany’s Haltungsform animal welfare scale.
Lidl US recently launched a new branded meat line, Butcher’s Speciality, with high-end but competitively priced products such as Wagyu ground beef and organic, antibiotic-free, grass-fed ribeye steak. These appeal to quality-conscious but cost-conscious younger consumers. Other new meat products include seasoned products ready for the grill.
Precision Wellness
Precision wellness means meeting personalised nutrition needs throughout life. For Millennials, this can include dietary supplements. Millennials seek better sleep, but they are also morning coffee drinkers. Several brands are enhancing coffee products with adaptogens and nootropics, including lion’s mane, ashwagandha and L-theanine.
These ingredients can help consumers withstand stress, think clearly, and get quality rest at times of the day when the benefits are needed most. Functional mushrooms such as lion’s mane have boosted sales for Laird Superfood, a producer of coffee creamers and other products.
Laird Superfood Creamers have a coconut milk base plus functional mushrooms and are available in powdered and liquid forms. A combination of the nootropic lion’s mane mushroom for cognitive balance and adaptogenic reishi for stress management helps meet consumer needs. The company is meeting consumer demand for protein with a new protein-enhanced latte powder made from pea, hemp and pumpkin seed protein plus functional lion’s mane, chaga, maitake and cordyceps mushrooms.
Maverick & Farmer Coffee, in partnership with Nuvedo, recently introduced a premium coffee with an extract of lion’s mane mushroom. The coffee is positioned for midday consumption, when consumers may need focus and mental clarity without jitters or caffeine ups and downs.
Next Level Boost uses functional mushrooms to replace caffeine in its evening mushroom coffee for consumers who want to sleep better. Other functional ingredients are skin-, joint-, and hair-boosting collagen, relaxing L-theanine, gut-friendly fibre, and soothing botanicals.
Wildly Inventive
Consumers want to be surprised and wowed by new products. Products can deliver the wow factor in several ways, including cross-category mash-ups, new flavours for meal parts, or surprising cultural combinations.
One example is a South African flavour combo in Woolworths Deep Cut Mzansi Tangy BBQ Potato Crisps. Another is Dian Erwa’s Bitter Buckwheat Spicy Strips with a bold chilli coating and crispy crunch. Maple pancake mochi from Royal Family offers a chewy, bite-sized product with a maple filling and mochi exterior.
F&B Launch Highlights
Launch highlights include products with CBD and new functional products. These include a limited-edition THC lemonade by Nowadays and THC- and CBD-infused feel-good functional drinks from BRĒZ.
Kate Farms introduced a functional high-protein shake for weight management and to support GLP-1 users with plant protein, fibre, and key vitamins and minerals in a sugar-free format. Laird Superfood, Inc., recently launched two clean, organic, functional mushroom coffee products, Perform Whole Bean Coffee and Perform Decaf Coffee.
Z Natural Foods introduced Organic Cognitive Cacao and Coffee with Matcha, MCTs & Mushrooms to its superfood beverage line. Bragg Live Food Products, Inc., is expanding its apple cider vinegar line with Bragg Pineapple Turmeric Apple Cider Vinegar Blend.