Cold Foods Industry News

Understanding the Shift in Consumer Shopping Habits

If only the cold food industry had a crystal ball and could look into the future to see how today’s consumers shop for tomorrow. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Instead, cold food processors must rely on changing flavor profiles, sustainable efforts, new product development and an increased online presence to stay relevant on store shelves.

And, now that consumers are opening their wallets a bit more, they’re also shifting the nation’s buying habits. Price comparisons, coupons, loyalty rewards and social media continue to dominate the way consumers shop, while in-depth ingredient labels, sustainable packaging, local sourcing and innovative flavor profiles dictate how consumers shop.

Welcome to our annual State of the Industry report, the refrigerated and frozen food industry’s most extensive annual report that covers everything from trends and analysis to product performance and packaging initiatives.

Here, you’ll find:

· Product category market share reports.

· Category and consumer purchase trends.

· New retail product developments.

· Overview of the refrigerated and frozen foods industry and what’s in store for the remainder of the year.

Want to learn more about foodservice trends? CLICK HERE to discover how new culinary products are taking over restaurant menus and other foodservice channels.

Also, discover who placed in the Top 5 for our 3^rd annual Reader’s Choice Best New Retail Products contest. Throughout the month of March, readers, processors, suppliers and shoppers voted online for their favorite new product introduced July 2014 to February 2015 to select the Top 5 Best New Retail Products. Products were selected based on uniqueness to the market, packaging enhancements, on-trend flavor profile, consumer need and better-for-you ingredients.

Furthermore, check out http://bit.ly/1J6zxWk to learn how rapidly shifting consumer expectations, increasing food costs and supply and demand volatility play a key role in growing strategic value for restaurant chains.

Welcome to our annual State of the Industry report. Enjoy.

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Marina Mayer was formerly Editor-in-Chief of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods. Previously, she spent four years as managing editor and executive editor of Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery and Dairy Foods, both sister publications. In this role, Mayer was responsible for reporting on market trends, ingredient R&D, production technology and new products within the dairy, snack food and wholesale bakery markets. Prior to joining BNP Media, she served a five-year tenure as editor of quality control for Manufacturers' News, Inc., where she was named “Manager of the Year” in 2006. Previously, she worked as an editorial assistant for Insider Magazine and worked as a contributing features writer for her college newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student. Mayer was a recipient of a Young Leader Scholar award, presented from American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE), which is given annually to only five U.S. journalists, 30 years of age and under. She is a graduate of Indiana University with a bachelor’s in journalism.