Stories
Dec 14
HelloFresh presents: The Food Trends & Innovation Report
A quick snack between two virtual meetings, eating a pizza while watching TV or having dinner with family and friends – The HelloFresh Food Trends & Innovation Report reveals how food at home culture has evolved around the world over the past decade. The findings show which behavior and habits are characteristic for our everyday life and what is rather the exception. For the report, HelloFresh surveyed 11,500 adults across 16 countries about their past, current and future cooking and eating habits. Our team of expert recipe developers provided further insight. We can say this much: cooking and eating habits around the world have changed significantly over the last ten years.
One major change in eating habits has been the success of meal kits. As the global market leader in the meal kit sector, HelloFresh has enjoyed fulminant growth over the past decade as consumers increasingly turn towards meal kits.
Sustained shift towards fresh cooking and conscious consumption
Since its initial launch ten years ago, HelloFresh has always kept a close relationship with its customers and has become an expert in understanding their food preferences. By receiving more than three million data points from customers on a weekly basis and regularly running surveys, we are able to evaluate and predict trends, and have the unique opportunity to constantly improve our product. Our recent research into food trends and innovations revealed interesting insights, including:
Almost half of those surveyed said that they cook at home more frequently than they did ten years ago and use fresh ingredients more often.
People are increasingly concerned with the origin of their food and are willing to spend more money on high-quality ingredients.
For almost a third of all respondents, sustainability is an important aspect when it comes to purchasing food.
Consumers are opening up to new ways of consuming food: Almost nine percent of respondents can imagine ordering meal kits more often in the next year.
Another important aspect that consumers have become more aware of over the last ten years is diet and nutrition awareness. "Healthy eating has changed and become more nuanced. One household can have several dietary preferences and the dimensions of these can range from basic physical wellbeing to functional foods and climate considerations", says Nanna Elisabeth Vestergard, Culinary Manager at HelloFresh Sweden and Denmark. Our survey results reflect this as well: More than a third of respondents said they eat a wider variety of food than they did ten years ago, and almost a third decided to reduce the number of times they dined outside of their homes.
Nanna Elisabeth Vestergard, Culinary Manager at HelloFresh Sweden & Denmark, knows what our customers in the Nordics want.
The social factor of cooking and eating
Consumers' cooking and eating habits will continue to change steadily. Preferences change, offers evolve and demands shift – sometimes in the short and sometimes in the long term. Unexpected outside factors can propel or slow down existing developments. The pandemic, for example, has sped up the existing shift towards eating at home. In many markets where restrictions have been lifted, we can see that this development is sustainable.
A major current trend is the growing importance of shared meals as a social gathering. "Making an occasion out of meals has become and will continue to be more important, with many prioritizing coming together with family to eat", says Hannah Gilbert, Director Culinary at HelloFresh Australia and New Zealand. The social component will become even more important in the future. More than one in four survey respondents plan to eat together with their families more often in the coming year. Following this, they also intend to spend more time on their meals in the long term. This is a part of home cooking’s overall revival.
Hannah Gilbert is Head of Culinary at HelloFresh Australia & New Zealand. As an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and culinary nutrition specialist she leads a team of chefs, nutritionists, dietitians and food scientists in creating recipes for HelloFresh and satisfying the newest trends.
A trend towards experimenting, new cuisines and sustainability
The range and variety of meals available to the average consumer have increased significantly in recent years. Therefore, it is not surprising that almost half of the respondents would like to try out new cuisines. More than a third are curious about new and exciting offerings from food companies while one in seven will use ingredients they have never used before in the coming year.
Sustainability already determines grocery shopping habits for many consumers and this trend is here to stay. Over a third of respondents plan to use more locally sourced ingredients in the coming year, while another 31 percent want to pay more attention to the origin of their food. In the long term, nearly a quarter of respondents plan to spend more money on those high-quality ingredients.
At HelloFresh we aim to source directly from the farmer and as locally as possible.
What else will 2022 bring?
The awareness for what we consume is increasingly rising. Nutritious and healthy foods, but also special diets such as vegetarian and vegan have become mainstream. Given this development, personalized and individualized nutrition offers are becoming more and more popular. "Modularity opens up a new aspect of the HelloFresh product and enables us to better tailor to our customers exact needs," explains Hannah Gilbert. "Online shopping for meals and groceries, providing more choices and opportunities for finding products suiting specific needs and preferences, goes hand in hand with a growing tendency for more focus on personalized diets," adds Nanna Elisabeth.
Based on our survey results and recipe developer statements HelloFresh presents further in-depth insights on Food Trends & Innovation for our different markets on these landing pages:
Source: representative study conducted by Censuswide for HelloFresh including 11,500 living in the US, Canada, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Australia and New Zealand in September 2021.