Magic mushrooms, curation takes a new turn, the boom of alcohol-free spirits…
On the spotlight
🍄 2021, the year of the mushroom ?
October 2019: “Fantastic Fungi” debuts on Netflix. The show is a complete immersion into the magic of our basements, highlighting the key role that fungi can play in medical, therapeutic or environmental situations. With the visibility from the documentary, Google searches on the subject increased tenfold in the first half of 2020.
Since then, mushrooms are ubiquitous. From fashionable packaging to, of course, food. In the food industry, the current trend is more than favorable towards them: inspired by the growing demand for so-called “functional” food and by the medical legalization of psychoactive drugs in certain states of America, DTC brands dedicated to mushrooms are flourishing. Big names in the industry are positioning themselves in the domain, with brands such as Kellogg's, who invested in Myco Technology, a Colorado company which, through its venture capital subsidiary, manufactures vegan proteins, made with shiitake mushrooms.
The figures speak for themselves: In 2020, sales of products containing medicinal mushrooms increased from 200 to 800% depending on the variety. Chaga, reishi, cordyceps, shiitake, maitake ... The range is growing and brands are finding more creative ways of integrating the fungi into everyday menus: the adaptogenic qualities and immunity benefits of mushrooms are such that now added to coffees, cereals, chocolates, snacks and spreads.
Still in doubt about the mushroom craze ? Let me convince you otherwise : in the United States, Multiverse, the first marketplace to offer practical mushroom-based products, was launched at the end of 2020 and has already raised $ 1.5 million in seeds.
Demand is also high in the Do It Yourself sector, as shown by the buzz created around home-grow mushroom kits. On Amazon US, there have been more than 21,000 searches for “Mushroom growing kit” over the last 30 days (period: August 11 - September 12). On Google it’s the same story: nearly 53,000 searches are made each month for “mushroom grow kit” plus nearly 70,000 similar semantic searches. In the USA and in Europe, there are more and more kits of this genre available, for example, Nature & Découvertes sell a variety of kits : “Champi Pousse” or Prêt à pousser (Ready to Grow) that’s an easily distinguishable kit with its pink, yellow or gray oyster mushrooms (all currently out of stock).
If the dynamics in place are to be believed, the trend should continue, or even accelerate in 2022. Raw products but also add-ons, recipes ... This is not a craze to be ignored.
🌟 Exclusive curating
Curation in the food sector is not a new phenomenon, it’s in fact the whole principal of supermarkets. But in recent months, the phenomenon has taken on a new dimension in the United States and in Europe.
Focus on 4 interesting initiatives:
Without alcohol, is the party crazier ? Safety, health, well-being, pregnancy, religion, beliefs ... We all have good reasons to moderate our alcohol consumption, albeit occasionally or permanently. In any case, this is the reasoning behind the Nantes-based company “Gueule de Joie”, which brings together a wide selection multi-brand non-alcoholic drinks ; beers, wines and cocktails. Launched in 2019, the company started out with around fifty different drinks, since then, the young Loire-Atlantique startup is in high demand and has quadrupled its range. Due to the macro-trend: the famous "mocktail" (editor's note. Name given to alcohol-free cocktails) had 246,000 searches last August on Google, up + 50% in one year.
The best of DTC. Millennials and GenZ are prime targets for the food industry and DTC brands are multiplying like rabbits, in the hope of appealing to these consumers. Subsequently, the market is as colossal as it is fragmented, meaning it is not always easy to find your way around. With its mobile grocery store around the United States, Pop Up Grocer offers hundreds of products from the most innovative modern to its consumers. Cauliflower pasta, cheese made from hemp seeds, euphoric drinks. The products are 99% vegetarian, 81% vegan and 78% gluten-free, riding the wave of sustainable “plant-based” diets. “People love a new, cooler and more user-friendly grocery experience; they keep asking us to set up permanent spots, to make our products available online and to expand to other cities ” says Emilie Schildt, founder of the concept. In Lyon, the Tandem coffee-shop also intends promote these niche brands. Could we be looking at a franchise any time soon?
Hot Sauce Shop. It’s heating up in the global hot sauce market which is expected to grow from $ 2.71 billion in 2021 to $ 4.38 billion in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.1% over that period. With the popularity of exotic cuisines increasing with multiple searches for vegan flavor boosters or alternatives to salt – the temperature is definitely rising ! Among the popular players are L’Epicier fou and its curation of spices, sauces and condiments, and Bordeaux's Sweet Pepper, which brings together brands from 24 countries.
Healthy Snacks. Snacks have long had bad press, but Zippy Pantry intends to change all that, with its dedicated marketplace. Its mission: “To become the benchmark for snacks and basic medicinal foods from emerging brands.” To do this, the site has adopted a community approach with official testers : these foodies, content creators and / or nutrition experts, approve each new product via a quality label, “The Zip Standard.” It’s exactly the same concept at Bubble, where you can find spirulina-based popcorn, "chia pasta" or pea flour – a burst of green colour of which will undoubtedly give your recipes a boost.
Strong Signals
🍹 The BOOM in non-alcoholic spirits
We mentioned it in the section dedicated to the curation of DTC brands: the increased demand for functional beverages is strongly influencing the non-alcoholic drinks market, which should experience annual growth of 9.22% (CAGR 2021-2026).
Alcohol-free spirits should also do well. Created from a process combining two distillations - one with the flowers or leaves of a plant, the other with the harder parts such as roots, then mixed with water, these products were popularized across the Channel by brands like Seedlip, which replaces gin with a mixture of pepper, cardamom, lemon peel and zest. Ben Branson, its founder was inspired by a publication called “The Art of Distillation” to create the drink, which dates back to 1651 and is based on old botanical recipes. The brand then developed its alcohol-free range, sugars, sweeteners and allergens.
France has similar product ranges ; Nolow brands, made in Provence; JNPR n°1, distilled in Normandy; Djin, produced near Cognac; coming soon, the Rochelais Optimae. The phenomenon is not confined to imitation gins either, with alcohol-free versions of cognac, rum, vodka and tequila existing already. Some of the countries to watch closely in this niche include Belgium, Australia and the United States. Original food and drink pairings, are to be found in books such as “The Botanical Kitchen” by Elly McCausland, Instagram accounts like “Free Spirits Society” or even podcasts like “Non alcoholic Bible”.
🎮 Gaming : more synergies with food than ever
We recently told you about the rise in food associated video games - Nainai's Recipe, Venba, Nour, etc. - who surf on the social and intergenerational bond that’s specific to food. We’ll now focus on an alternative angle: that of recipe books inspired by popular video games.
Assassin’s Creed, has more than 100 million players since its launch and will soon have its own recipe book. Available for pre-order since August, the launch is planned to happen at the end of the year. The recipes will be inspired by the times and places the most famous assassins frequent and will allow audiences to “re-live the Italian Renaissance, the French Revolution and even Victorian London ”. A next hit in the culinary box office?
Final Fantasy XIV. While no official announcements have been made, one influencer spotted several clues to the upcoming launch of a game cookbook, all documented in a Twitter thread. The pitch? "Start your day with the Farmer's Breakfast, a very famous, simple but delicious dish; savor the bread of the Chevalier de Coerthas; dip into the lingonberry cheesecake from La Noscea, and much more." The launch is scheduled for the end of October.
Tomb Raider. Published to mark the 25th anniversary of the game and available to the public soon, the book will feature more than 40 recipes inspired by the travels of the heroine Lara Croft. On the menu: Peruvian Lomo Saltado stir-fry, Indian fried Vada Pav, Japanese Okonomiyaki pancakes, or beans on toast, a traditional British with additional Worcestershire sauce and apple cider vinegar.
Already very popular before the pandemic, video games have gained even more influence. It is therefore not surprising that manufacturers are looking to broaden the spectrum of merchandising. In addition to books, other product lines that revolve around gaming will pop-up, including snacks to nibble on during the most frenzied games. There are currently start-ups like LevlUp, who develops “Gaming Boosters”, energy drinks rich in caffeine and vitamin B12 that promise to keep the player awake and focused on the game.
Weak Signals
🐕 Diversification : agro alimentation giants get involved
According to Xerfi, the pet food market in France has an estimated worth of more than 4 billion euros and sales have increased by 48% in ten years. Faced with this growing sector, centred around key trends, humanization and anthropomorphism, many brands that make food for us humans are diversifying, enlarging their ranges to animals, with some quite unconventional ideas.
January 2021 - Ice cream for dogs. Ben & Jerry’s (Unilever Group), one of the world’s leaders in container ice cream, announced the addition of a dedicated animal line with products such as Pontch’s Mix ice cream - with peanut butter and pretzels - and Rosie’s Batch ice cream - with pumpkin puree, sunflower cream and vegan mini-cookies – this marks the beginning of a new canine range.
May 2021 - Beer for dogs. The Belgian group Anheuser-Busch InBev, world leader in beer production, with 500 brands in its portfolio and a network of more than 600 independent distributors and wholesalers, announced the release of its first line for dogs. Formulated with broth, “Dog Brew by Busch” is a major launch on the market. The concept ? A (real) beer for humans, a dog brew for their companion. Cheers! Or Woof !
September 2021 - Yogurt for dogs. Chobani, the American Greek yogurt giant, announced the launch, in Australia of a canine variant with “Daily Dollop” a yoghurt lactose-free, rich in protein and calcium.
Could we see the arrival of win-twin food consumption soon? From there to Pet Food brands also starting to launch mirror ranges for humans, there is only one step...
🍎 Making Vinegar Glamourous
Vinegar is TIMELESS. Since the Babylonian era, its been hailed for its capacity to preserve of food, then hailed by Hippocrates for its medicinal properties, unfiltered or pasteurized cider vinegar still takes up a prominent place in organic food stores. Brands have to constantly reinvent themselves and offer something new and that has been the case in the USA, where several DTCs have taken on the challenge to bring a new dimension to the product and make it ‘luxury’, combining well-being and fun. Let’s focus on four brands that are contributing to this ‘glow-up’.
Ramp Up. “Enhance your kitchen” is the slogan of this American brand, dedicated to selling vinegar with a twist. Available with red or white miso, black garlic or turmeric ... There is something for everyone.
Acid League. Forget everything you thought you knew about vinegar! Vinegars can also be adapted to drinks, sauces and condiments, essential ingredients for creative cuisine. The brand also offers a range of “living tonics” intended to help treat the intestinal flora with just one spoonful, take on an empty stomach before your morning bowl of corn flakes.Wi several flavours available, the concoction, based on cider vinegar with added medicinal plants offers “Coffee Chaga Erable ”,“ Passion Fruit Oolong ”or“ Vanilla Mānuka Spice ” flavours. They also sell non-alcoholic wines and a wider range of vinegars and dressings for more traditional use. Heads up to the brand's online magazine, the tagline is where “science, culinary creativity, art and design” come together.
American Vinegar Works. Fermented, slow and raw: these vinegars are designed to spice up your plates and cocktails. This artisan brand has four main varieties - malt, apple, rice and wine – a that you’ll find in a range of ten vinegars.
YesFolk. This New York brewery wants to make a difference with its premium vinegar. Launched at the end of 2020, it is made from Kombucha flowers, aged for an additional seven months and can be enjoyed in dishes, as a digestif or a cocktail.
To help air cake dough, stabilize egg whites or to spice up a soup ... there are a number dedicated recipes of books and that have emerged recently, like Acid Trip a book that hails the virtues of vinegar.
🌾 Flours in the rain
If you are one of those who discovered you have a passion for bread or homemade pastries during the first lock-down, you may have had to face the unthinkable: a flour shortage. Who would've believed it ? Fortunately, alternatives exist, and it was the perfect time to find out about them.
On Google, the search for “substitute for cake flour” was made more than 74,000 times around the world in-between March and April 2020, seven times more than in previous months. This shortage encouraged consumers to try alternatives ... which increased sales and whilst “classic” flours have regained their place on the supermarket shelves again, there are now around 30,000 searches per month on Google for “substitute for cake flour”, three times more than before the pandemic. The competition is therefore serious, especially since alternative flours exist that boast multiple advantages, more functional - gluten-free, keto, etc. -, often without compromising on taste, texture or flavor, sometimes cultivated in more of a sustainable way... So many advantages to attract consumers.
The more well-known alternatives such as rice, buckwheat, chestnut, corn, chickpeas, spelt, quinoa, coconut or almond flour, are leading a whole tribe of other innovative products that are boosting the sector. Insect flour, tigernuts, lupine, upcycled beer and sunflower seeds are all examples of these new products from start-ups around the world.
One example is Planetarians, an American company that reuses the leftover waste from vegetable oil production to make a superfood flour. Called “SunMeal”, it contains three times more protein and two times more fiber than traditional wheat flour. Supported by Barilla's Blu1877 investment fund, the Italian firm has also enabled the young brand to produce at the industrial stage, pasta, bread and even crackers made with its flour.
Table talk
Food ‘Drops’: a strategy of choice for DTC? Popularized by streetwear brands, a ‘drop’ is a limited edition product launch, over a given period of time. The marketing technique is often successful.
Offering exclusivity, limited access – sometimes requiring pre-registration -, reduced time and, very often, integrating gamified experiences.
The process is gaining ground in the food industry. The latest example to date is the Last Crumb luxury cookie brand. According to Modern Retail, since its launch last May, the brand has thousands of people on its waiting list, on the lookout for its future ‘drops’. “This list, which serves as a tombola for a weekly raffle, is the means by which Last Crumb has succeeded in creating early excitement around its brand” the site states that each drop generally takes less than one minute to sell out. More than ever, FOMO is a key element in the sales argument. It’s worth mentioning the care put into the unboxing experience that goes viral, encouraging people sharing by word of mouth.
Seeds are not going anywhere. Pumpkin, chia and flax seeds are now integral parts of our dishes and are increasingly used in products by manufacturers such as Activia (Danone) and its chia yogurts. The it-food of the moment? Seed butters. On Google, since the start of the year, there have been nearly 20,000 searches for "sunflower butter" and "sunflower seed butter". Some brands, like 88 Acres, even specialize in this segment with original products such as watermelon or squash seed butter.
Best Selling Cookbooks on Amazon. In the Top 50 best sellers in mid-September, there are no less than eight books devoted to diets, including three on the keto diet, two on the Mediterranean diet and two on “slow food”. It’s also worth noting the craze for lacto-fermentation, with four books making the list. This book, for example, has more than 6,750 reviews. Air fryer cuisine, a trend from TikTok has also had big success - with 1.8 billion views for the hashtag #AirFryer - and which demonstrates, once again, the power of the platform with its viral videos and hashtags. On Google, worldwide, “air fryer” generates 4 million average searches each month: a search that has doubled in less than two years and whose fanbase has greatly expanded on Reddit. While the sub-reddit devoted to it, had 14,508 subscribers in January 2020, it now has nearly 63,500.