Temperatures to make your drink sweat aren’t the only hot forecast for the summer. This year, the name of the game on many menus is swicy. That’s according to Monin Americas, a 112-year-old foodbev flavor innovation company. More than 80% of consumers claim to enjoy hot and spicy foods; many flavors came to the forefront of all aspects of foodbev last year, including hot honey, gochujang, and more; for example, the rise of a more diverse American palate is one reason David Chang and Momofuku recently made news as he tried to trademark chili crunch. But because many companies claim bold chili/c ..read more

Consumers made it through the holidays and now have their sights set on summer but with little relief from economic pressure. What does that signal for summer spending? To break this down for us, FI’s Senior Editor, Jordan Wiklund, joins Susan Choi to discuss factors that could play a key role in your customers’ decision-making. We cover the latest in earnings misses, the status of federal interest rates, prolonged inflation, and the response from both retailers and customers. Produced By: Susan Choi Join the Food Institute Today! Check us out on YouTube! Check out the rest of our videos ..read more

The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak, previously confined to avian species, has made a significant crossover to the dairy sector, affecting dairy cows across several U.S. states and raising concerns about the safety of dairy products and the potential for human transmission. Dairy Safety and the Effectiveness of Pasteurization Recent updates from the FDA indicate that ongoing national testing of retail dairy products demonstrates the efficacy of the pasteurization process in inactivating the HPAI virus. These results come from a sample size of 297 retail dairy products and pro ..read more

Kombucha, an effervescent and tangy fermented tea beverage, has captivated the taste buds of health-conscious consumers worldwide, propelling the market to remarkable heights. This ancient elixir, with mysterious roots tracing back to China over 2,000 years ago, has undergone a renaissance, transcending its humble origins to become a $640 million dollar industry—according to data from Circana. The origins of kombucha are shrouded in legend, and the drink’s murky origins remained in relative obscurity—at least to western palates—until its rediscovery in the 20th century in something of a cultur ..read more

For many, what began as a collegiate shot has now transformed into an at-home staple, a favorite party mixer, and a ready-to-drink refrigerated option. Tequila continues to capture consumers wherever and however they drink as the flavor zeitgeist from Mexico keeps rolling across the restaurant, retail, and grocery sectors. Many brands are betting big on tequila. White Claw – the onetime pandemic-era darling of the RTD sector – released a Tequila Smash flavor in March. Meanwhile, Boston Beer launched Truly Tequila Soda, while premium tequila brand Casa Azul expanded its offering of tequila soda ..read more

Crumbl has made a costly mistake lately – one that’s akin to building a church for Easter Sunday. The Utah-based bakery chain originally had small retail footprints that were rather humble and didn’t require a ton of money to build. Their locations were just about cookies, with very low overhead. Now, however … Crumbl keeps making its new locations bigger. They built based on their honeymoon period – which is short-sighted, because once the honeymoon is over, you’re in trouble. If you look at Crumbl’s newer locations, they’re much nicer – Taj Mahal-like – and much more expensive to build, w ..read more

A recent study published in JAMA Health Forum revealed women are suffering from alcoholism and its damaging effects at an increasing rate. Blame it on stress caused by both the pandemic and workplace issues along with a culture that thinks it’s funny to see tipsy women, experts told The Food Institute. The study looked at whether the pandemic was associated with increased rates of high-acuity alcohol-related complications, examining insurance claims to track incidents from 2017 through 2021 among females at least 15 years of age. The study noted that in the past decade, the number of women 35 ..read more

In this week’s food industry news in 2 minutes, we examine the latest jobs numbers among U.S. private employers. The Food Institute Podcast · FI Fast Break News – May 1, 2024 The FI Fast Break podcast provides the food industry with a quick-hitting update of impactful news. The post FI Fast Break audio news: May 1, 2024 appeared first on The Food Institute ..read more

It’s no secret that the future of retail is adaptive, immersive, and a little overwhelming to think about. What does that mean for the actual brick-and-mortar retail space, however?  “It is not any particular technology or innovation that the retail industry needs in order to move into the future,” said Gary Hawkins, author of Bionic Retail: How to Thrive in an Exponential World, to TFI.  “Rather, it is an understanding of the exponential world we now live in, an understanding of the growing gap as change outside the retail organization happens faster than within the organization, an ..read more

John Kelly, CMO at Daiya, believes the outlook for plant-based cheese is “incredibly bright.” The dairy-free cheese producer’s newest alt-cheese innovation utilizes fermentation technology to mimic the texture and meltability of traditional dairy cheese. In December 2023, these “next generation” cheese shreds, slices, and sticks hit shelves at grocery retailers nationwide, featuring Daiya’s proprietary Oat Cream blend. Thus far, consumer response to the new recipes—be it from social media, product tests, or what’s happening in the market—is “a lot of excitement,” Kelly told The Food Institute ..read more