Why Did the F&B Industry Need to Change?
As you can imagine, being a customer-centric industry, public and common opinion plays an enormous role in dictating the way food and beverage trends come about, disappear, or settle.
The continued focus on sustainability and eco-friendly operations has made an impact with the shopping public, and they are happy to vote with their wallets.
77% of consumers agree that businesses should use the least amount of packaging possible, and 57% said they would be less likely to purchase products that came in packaging they considered harmful to the environment.
When over half your audience are prepared to drop your products if you don’t meet their standards, you can easily see why eco-friendly options and sustainability has become such a key topic for these companies.
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Where Will This Innovation Take the Industry Next?
As the need to reduce plastics grows but continues to need to be balanced with the need to preserve the food quality and safety of the ingredients, there will be plenty of challenges and innovations required from the industry to satisfy these needs.
Potential solutions may include a scientific approach, with the development of microbial biodegradable polymers, created from agro-food waste residues, a more customer-centric marketing approach – rewarding customers for bringing in their own receptacles or accessories (such as travel mugs or metal straws), or even creative use of non-traditional ingredients such as corn starch, popcorn, and mushrooms to develop sustainable packing.
However the food industry decides to take their future, it’s clear that it needs to be clean, green, and clearly sustainable, if companies want to keep their paying customers happy and shopping with them. Innovation and new technologies will continue to press forward with new ideas and inspiration, and as an industry on the cutting edge of customer opinion, it is undoubtably going to be the Food and Beverage industry that stands out as a pioneer for change and a more sustainable future.