With consumers looking to cook more at home as a hedge against inflation, they are exploring a wider menu of familiar and new flavors, Leigh Ann Schwarzkopf of Project Partners Network said during the Innovation Theater education program at The Inspired Home Show 2023.
Food has become a much more critical part of how consumers think about their leisure time. Schwarzkopf pointed out that three of four consumers in the United States travel for the food. As research suggests they are dubious about discretionary travel in the current economic circumstances and even cutting back on restaurant spending, the desire to experience new flavors and cuisines is being satisfied by what they can find on social media, whether through recipes, influencers or the kind of online instruction that’s generated by retailers such as Sur La Table, she said.
It’s not just about cooking up new recipes. Consumers are thinking about food differently, Schwarzkopf said. They are looking for new cuisines, such as Moroccan. And they are trying new forms of fusion combining, for example, increasingly popular Latin cuisines. They also are combining behaviors to save money, ordering takeout or delivery of certain items then combining them with their own cooking whether from scratch or leftovers. As for leftovers, consumers are saving food then looking for new ways to spice it up for the second serving occasion.
Schwarzkopf said 76% of consumers want to try new foods, and all generations are interested in new flavors. A direct effect of this is the purchase of new cookware. Cooking many cuisines requires or encourages, for authenticity’s sake, specific cookware and kitchen tools. She added cookware companies should pay special attention to social media influencers, who can not only show directions that food is taking but also could be a source of partnership to promote products.
