Future Drinking Trends

COMMIT TO HONEST AND THOROUGH COMMUNICATION WITH CONSUMERS

Going forward, companies will be expected to provide updates on progress related to long-term or transitional policies. Even more trust will be won by providing verified information, such as claims certified by third-party organizations.

Enabling consumers to take more control will be made easier with personalized preferences in apps and smartphones that filter claims to spotlight what matters most to the individual, such as ingredients or ethical claims.

These personalized settings will foster relationships between companies and consumers that could extend to better transparency around pricing. Transparency will be needed if commitments to healthy, environmentally friendly or ethical policies result in higher retail prices.

FUTURE 50 FOODS

• Algae : Kelp, wakame

  
  
• Beans and legumes: Adzuki beans, green beans, fava beans, Bambara groundnuts, black-eyed peas, lentils, marama beans, mung beans, soybeans

  
  
• Cacti: Prickly pears

  
  
• Grains: Amaranth, buckwheat, finger millet, fonio, khorasan wheat, quinoa, spelt, teff, wild rice

  
  
• Fruit vegetables: Squash blossoms, okra, orange tomatoes

  
  
• Leafy greens: Beet greens, wild broccoli, kale, moringa, Pak choi, pumpkin leaves, red cabbage, spinach, watercress

  
  
• Mushrooms: Velvet-footed pax, hen-of-the-wood, saffron milk cap

  
  
• Nuts and seeds: Linseed, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts

  
  
• Root vegetables: Black salsify, parsley root, daikon radish

  
  
• Sprouts: Alfalfa sprouts, sprouted kidney beans, sprouted garbanzo beans

  
  
• Tubers: Lotus roots, purple yams, yam beans, red Indonesian, sweet potatoes

MULTISENSORY PRODUCTS AND GAMEIFIED ELEMENTS CAN MAKE FOOD & DRINK MORE FUN

Consumers will be open to food, drink and foodservice that engages more of the senses to trigger emotional connections. Emotional resonance can be created with elements such as colour, texture and aroma.

The rising popularity of gaming and esports presents opportunities to ‘game-ify’ everyday activities like cooking to make them more fun. Brands also can bring game features to  life to reach the growing audience of people of all ages who play video games. Call of Duty fans, for example, inspired the creation of a new wine from Argentina.

Foodservice also can join this trend, as shown by collaborations between local restaurants in Southeast Asia and miHoYo, the creator of the popular games Tears of Themis, Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact, to create game-themed experiences and game-inspired food.

CONSIDER THE OPPORTUNITIES TO JOIN – OR ESCAPE – THE METAVERSE

Brands also can join the gaming trend by creating a virtual presence within popular games and platforms. 37% of US adults who played video games in the three months to July 2021 would like to see food and drink sponsorships in gaming. Along those lines, US restaurant chain Chipotle opened a virtual restaurant within the Roblox game in 2021.

In the coming years, gaming will evolve from individual virtual worlds into a fully immersive metaverse, or a combined network of physical, augmented and virtual realities.

The blend of ‘real’ and virtual worlds will give people the ability to live and express their brand loyalty both as their physical selves and as online avatars.

BLOCKCHAIN & PERSONALISATION

The blockchain is a distributed digital ledger which can offer transparency beyond the label, but unlike any other digital database, an entry cannot be changed once it is logged, giving it a high-trust value. "Blockchain is set in stone – which is pretty rare for the internet – it’s also highly secure and fully decentralized," explains Jessi Baker, founder of Provenance, a London-based start-up that uses blockchain technology to offer brands’ traceability in their products.

Combine this greater communication opportunity with the new Blockchain technology that’s being developed so that consumers can track and trace exactly where every ingredient within their drink has come from, and the future of consumerism has landed squarely in the hands of the individual.

Personalisation will be infinitely possible, not only in terms of tailoring your drink to your exact preferences – think carbonated drinks dispensers that allow you to select the level of sugar incorporated, or smoothie dispensers with an array of ingredients that the individual can combine to meet a range of health concerns – but also in relation to the information that is conveyed on the receptacle, or indeed the drinks dispenser.

FUTURE PACKAGING

Packaging might become more eye-catching by 2050 but it will also become simpler and more sustainable. Plastic will be a thing of the past with cardboard taking centre stage. The conversation will move from how to reduce waste through to how to eradicate it altogether. This includes ideas like the proliferation of drinks dispensers offering consumers the opportunity to refill reusable bottles and investigating how to use every part of a plant within food and drink production processes.

Going forward, reflecting a commitment to the environment, packaging suppliers will minimize waste, maximize use of recycled materials, and focus on packaging that reduces the carbon footprint and energy needed to manufacture and ship their products.

Packaging suppliers will deliver packaging made from natural starches, utilizing vegetable and algae-based materials that are edible or dissolvable.