The Food Trend BOOM: How hobbies are changing the way people shop

At-home food trends have greatly evolved over the past ten years. With a renewed emphasis on complex flavors, globally-inspired cuisines/dishes, and a growing interest in the art of cocktail making – shopper’s palettes have become much more complex. With these growing food trends, it’s clear that cooking and mixology are quickly becoming key hobbies for many shoppers.

As these new hobbies have developed, many shoppers are looking for new products to try or products to be inspired by. They’re expanding their pantries. They’re sharpening their cooking skills. And they’re expanding their comfortability with home cooking. Although these trends are not new, and similar iterations have existed for many decades, the key difference now is how shoppers view brands are looking to them for inspiration and guidance.

Not with a bang, but with a BOOM

Recently, on our podcast Beyond the Shelf, we spoke with author, journalist, and cocktail connoisseur, André Darlington. His latest book, Booze Cruise: A Tour of the World’s Essential Mixed Drinks, chronicles his travels across the globe to the world’s top cocktail destinations and dissects some of the world’s biggest trends in cocktails and mixology. In our interview, André gave us some insights into where this renewed interest in cocktail making stemmed from. Around 10 years ago, restaurants really started to expand their menus. There was a huge boom in small plates, complex flavor profiles, and it had become standard for many restaurants to offer a full cocktail menu. All of these trends emerged around the same time and quickly helped change how many consumers viewed food & drinks.

As these trends really took off in food service, the CPG industry soon followed. The ingredients and dishes they would see in restaurants were starting to become more widely available in national grocery chains, and online platforms became the perfect place for shoppers to share new recipes and cooking tips.

Sparking Inspiration

As we approach 2022, this at-home cooking boom will continue to grow. Especially as #foodtok continues to trend on TikTok and Instagram, and supply chain issues force shoppers to be more creative with the ingredients they have on hand. It’s important for food & beverage brands to continue to inspire their customers to try new dishes.

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