World flavours like Moroccan are increasingly popular with US consumers. © Jamie McCaffrey/Flickr
BY PAULINE OUDIN US MANAGING DIRECTOR, SOPEXA
The Pepsis and Unilevers of this world have been clear: surrounding yourself by people who think the same way will inevitably lead to the same old ideas. And while the food and beverage industry captains seem to be poaching more foreign talent as a way to remain competitive in a global context, too few seem to realise this is the only way of staying relevant in the US market itself.
Now, this is not a plea for diversity (although, trust me, I’m all for a more multicultural workforce) but the showing of a growing consumer reality. As Americans crave new cultural experiences, the demand for foreign products is booming. According to Sopexa’s latest foodie study, exotic foods are on the rise, in fact, with 94% of Americans angling towards world cuisines. And while, of course, the US is a place where cultures have historically converged, Americans’ hunger for new culinary lifestyles has been triggered by two specific factors: obesity and technology.
After decades of increases in obesity, Americans started to care more about the nutritional qualities and provenance of what they eat and drink. Conscious eating led people to look for fresh, low-fat and non-processed foods. Quickly, the Mediterranean diet became a thing. And so did local products from the region. Today, experts say African cuisine – with the rise of healthy spices like harissa, or cooking methods like tagine – will be pushing Mexican aside as the ethnic flavour of the moment. All of that means eating better is now more than a lifestyle; it’s a discovery, an adventure. Clearly, winning over modern foodies means we need to think outside the box, starting with hiring people who have travelled, lived outside of their comfort zone, and can adjust their creative mindset to bridge cultures. After all, who else is better suited than an expat to explore, identify and spread new culinary ideas?
That is why our food system needs more international input from people who understand how behaviours evolve locally, while importing with them innovative, tasteful hacks that will delight the increasingly food-savvy Americans. These care about calorie intake, keeping their mind sharp and heart healthy, without sacrificing the discovery and enjoyment of creative flavours. This discovery extends beyond the flavours themselves: recent studies have shown that millennials – today’s largest and most diverse US demographic – care more and more about the story of a product or a brand. Stories of provenance, culture, nutrition and sustainability are now at the heart of the business equation. And the way to tell them is online, with 86% of American foodies saying the internet is their number one source of food information. And with 66% of foodies bragging about their preferences on social media, companies have everything to win by sharing their stories with them online.
So with the digitalisation of foodies and increasing worldliness of millennials, food and beverage brands need to arm themselves with talent with transient experience, who can reinvent their universe by injecting some fresh, nonconformist perspectives into their storylines. But this means we, as an industry, need to go the extra mile in order to bring in people who get cross-cultural nuances, who think both global and local, and can foresee and shape the food and beverage trends that will build long lasting relationships with American consumers.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024