Lisa Harris and Alex Hayes are food and drink consultants specialising in innovation and insights.
Courier Media invited us to be part of their food and drink issue round-table; discussing the emerging trends shaping the industry. We gave our expert opinion on what’s shaping the post-pandemic food and drink landscape including the rise of challenger brands, digital meets physical stores, and how brands can muscle in on traditional retailers. Read more
Manifest brand communications agency commissioned us to work on an insights project for their plant-based client, Future Farms.
We identified new horizon food trends and behaviours such as biohacking, holistic immunity and next-gen protein sources, which Manifest used in a UK-wide questionnaire to explore consumer’s responses and level of engagement. Findings included astounding levels of flexitarian eating, meat becoming taboo in the future, and new opportunities for lunch as the next big occasion for meatless meat. Read more.
We were interviewed by The Guardian for our food-industry take on the hard seltzer trend.
We explained why hard seltzer hits that sweet spot between hydration and hedonism, and how they’re satisfying a more mindful, health-conscious customer. Read more.
Read our trends report on why snacks are the new self-care, published on the Canvas8 trends and insight platform.
We explore why snack culture has increased, and how it’s been absorbed into the wellness and self-care industry, including trends in holistic, scientific, and subscription snacking. Read more.
One of the pandemic’s more positive repercussions is that it’s put an even fiercer spotlight on sustainability. Real innovators are setting themselves apart through clever collaborations, open-book environmental values, or by developing revolutionary waste-free food and drink products from the ground-up.
We explore five emerging trends in conscious consumerism, including the climatarian diet, waste-less engineering, and plant-based meat replacement technology. Read more.
Our food industry newsletter investigated the premium pantry trend, including why it’s come about and what you’ll be putting on your shelves next. Discover the new definition of value, why premium oils and butters are on the rise, and the future of direct-to-consumer shopping. Read more.
We’re delighted to be quoted in The Grocer for their in-depth report on world food. You can read the full article here.
We were invited to comment on the increase in takeaways and delivery food during the pandemic, and the impact this has had on grocery and FMCG trends. Read more.
What’s the future of viennoiserie in the post-COVID landscape? We teamed up with Delifrance to share our future food trends and insights.
We investigated the shift in snacking consumption for viennoiserie, the impact of health trends, and changing consumer behaviours and purchasing patterns as a result of COVID-19. Read more.
We hosted a food and drink trends webinar for the Young Foodies community to inform their post-COVID business strategy and NPD.
As official Young Foodies consultants, we support their community of challenger brands with insights and reports. We were invited to share the 5 key trends we believe will most impact consumer behaviour post-COVID, including health, new at-home food rituals, sustainability, and redefining value. Read more.
The UK’s largest pub retailer and brewer invited Harris and Hayes to share our insights on the future of food and dining in the post-COVID landscape.
Greene King requested in depth analysis of their menus, as well as a report detailing new food opportunities, emerging trends, and proposed new brand positioning. We also specifically fed into their Christmas planning process. Read more.
We delivered a thought leadership project for Mail Metro Media, reporting on the biggest drivers shaping the UK’s food and drink landscape, to inspire their key retail clients.
We had great feedback on the report which consisted of a clear and actionable trends document for the team to present and deploy on an ongoing basis. Read more.
We identified 3 key macro trends, relevant to the portfolio of William Jackson brands, and led the team around some key inspirational venues to stretch their thinking and provoke thought. We arranged exclusive access to chefs and founders, and developed an accompanying study tour ‘passport’ to summarise the content. Read more.
We’re regular contributors to Food Spark; a digital platform to inspire innovation across the food industry. Ongoing features include:
Self guided safaris; summarising all you need to know about an of-the-moment category in an essential passport format.
10 big ideas in…; a listicle round-up introducing key trends in a given category helping readers to cut across a broad range of information and feel ‘in the know’.
Our 2020 food and drink futures event was a great success at Mimo, London Bridge. Tickets sold out and the audience were treated to insightful discussions from panelists including Imogen Davis (Native Restaurant), Hannah Carter (Oggs) and Philippe Hohlfeld (design engineer).
As guest speakers at the Unitas conference, Harris and Hayes presented future food and drink trends relevant to the wholesale industry. The presentation was centred around four core consumer drivers influencing innovation (priorities, performance, purpose and pleasure) and how they’re driving purchase in food and drink.
Harris and Hayes are hosting their 2020 Food and Drink Symposium on 15th October at Mimo, London Bridge. Three speakers will address key themes for the future of food and drink, followed by a panel discussion and interactive tasting. Get tickets
Harris and Hayes launched the first self-guided food trends safari on the insights platform, Food Spark. This month we took readers to the best bakeries in the capital, highlighting where and why the biggest bread trends are taking off. Read the article here.
Every quarter, Harris and Hayes release a short trend summary which draws on the biggest and most topical challenges our clients are facing. This time it’s retail: find out about this year’s 5 big trends in retail.
We were invited to run an NPD and consumer insights workshop to inform and shape Diageo’s new product development for Baileys.
We were tasked with innovating in the dessert and ‘treat’ space to develop exciting new ways for Baileys to engage with consumers and increase reasons to purchase. We provided insights to inform the discussion, and led an interactive ideation process with the NPD team and senior innovation consultants.
Harris and Hayes worked with Unilever’s Disruptive Innovation team on two non-alcoholic beverage projects. Services included on-the-ground research with bar and cafe owners, as well as an in-depth trend report into the current landscape, and assisting NPD team.
