Typography. You just click the drop-down and choose something you like the look of. Simple. Serif if it’s formal, sans-serif if it isn’t. Job. Done. Well no. Typography is almost certainly the most under-appreciated element of visual design. Done well it’s amost invisible. Change the typeface on Apple, on Easyjet, on Nike or on Converse, and the entire brand is lost. It’s the tone of voice, it’s the personality, it’s the rhythm and meter of the message and it’s been that way since the earliest letterforms began organising communication, writing histories and spreading news around our world. So what should be looking out for in 2023. Read on good traveller, read on.
Earlier this month I headed into a rather rainy London for the first Lumina Food Strategy Forum of the year. With a new venue – the Everyman Broadgate – Lumina’s quarterly forums provide a fantastic insight into how the out-of-home market and consumer behaviours have changed over the previous quarter.
The inaugural Foodservice Summit, brought about by the wonderful team behind Bread & Jam Fest, was held at the beginning of March in an effort to help foodie start-ups crack open the often misunderstood world of away from home and showcase the many opportunities that the foodservice market can offer brands. As a leading foodservice agency we were of course there and were in fact proud to be a sponsor of this exciting new addition to the foodservice calendar.
The MCA Food to Go Conference is always a must attend event and this year was no exception. As a leading food and drink agency we make it our business to stay on top of the latest trends, so we were there to hear from a stella line-up of experts from market insight to operators. The day was, as ever, jam-packed, but here are our top take-outs…
News that the Government plans to centralise regional buying and distribution agreements across food and catering supplies to appoint one single ‘super supplier’ for schools, hospitals, care homes, local authorities and developed administrations, has sent shockwaves through the foodservice industry. The plan which seems to be at best ill-advised (if advised at all) and at worse, a step towards a monopoly has been met with criticism across the board, as industry experts, suppliers and wholesalers air their concerns at the lack of consultation.
Leveraging the consumer pull of a restaurant brand to create a range of products in retail is not a new idea by any means. Indeed, since 1998 Pizza Express has had their incredibly successful FMCG range in retail. Then followed Nando’s, Itsu, Greggs, YO!, TGI Fridays, Ed’s Diner, Chiquitos and Harry Ramsden’s. There is also Carluccios’s, Zizzi, Wahaca, Wasabi, Wagamama and more! In fact, we recently worked on the launch of Cinnamon Kitchen into Tesco, a range of premium Indian fine dining ready meals developed by Vivek Singh of The Cinnamon Club group of restaurants (you can read more here).
January is an important time to predict and consider what trends and changes we can expect to see in the culinary world throughout the year. In the food and hospitality industry, staying ahead of the curve is essential in order to appeal to customers and remain successful. Although we’ve already looked at trends in the eating out market, here, we will explore what flavours and ingredients chefs and restauranteurs should be aware of in 2023:
As you may or may not be aware, the Environment Act 2021 passed in November 2021 along with the food waste disposal rules are set to change and the implications for any organisation generating food waste in England are sizeable.
As a leading food and drink marketing agency covering both away from home and convenience channels (as well as consumer) we look forward to the quarterly Lumina Intelligence briefings to help ensure we keep up to date with the latest trends in the eating out market. Here are my top 10 take outs from yesterday’s Food Strategy Forum debrief…
You may recall my last Lumina food strategy forum exec summary blog was split into the good news and the bad news. I’m sad to say that the weight of bad news is rather overwhelming this time around, however that isn’t to say there isn’t some good news. As ever things are changing on a daily basis as this debrief happened on 21st September two days before the Chancellor’s ‘mini budget’. However, that said, it offers up a useful snapshot of the market. My top take outs from the debrief are as follows:
The Lumina team are no stranger to a food tour, well versed as they are with the hottest new concepts in town. But this time they wanted to mix things up a bit and treat the Food Strategy Forum members to a tour around not Soho, but Angel and not one, but three meals! Had I had known I perhaps would have opted for an elasticated waist but that frankly is my only complaint.
The start of this month saw the kick-off of MAD//Fest’s three-day long festival. Full of forward-thinking, fraternising and food, the bean team were in attendance not only to join the hub of innovation but to collect a Wing Award from the Alliance of Independent Agencies. That’s right, Jellybean have scooped up the best B2B campaign for yet another year, this time for our campaign with Philadelphia – ‘You Don’t Know Philly’.
Following on from the Lumina Food Strategy Forum Debrief (read here), we were led by 2 brilliant Lumina hosts around Central London, exploring innovative restaurant concepts and tapping into key trends.
As ever the Lumina Foodservice strategy forum was a deluge of data and insight. A hugely informative and useful look at the eating out market and of course as a leading food and drink agency with over 35 years in foodservice we were there to ensure we keep on top of the latest market dynamics and trends.
There is of course good news and bad news, so we’ll start with the bad first (you’ll be relieved to see the good list is longer!) …
Last week saw the IGD run their latest webinar on Eating Out: a world of challenges and opportunities. As ever, their insights presented by Rhian Thomas and Nicola Knight were well considered and highly relevant to us, a leading out of home agency, as we are always keen to stay ahead of market trends and consumer behaviour. The report was very comprehensive and certainly worth a read. But for those in a hurry, here are some key take outs:
As a leading food and drink agency, we are always keen to keep up and deliver the latest foodservice trends & insights that play a key part in planning and strategizing for our clients in hospitality. Lumina’s latest Food Strategy Forum looked at food-to-go, delivery and the restaurant market with current statistics and predictions until 2025 extracted from their latest reports.
Lumina Intelligence estimate the food-to-go sector will reach £23bn by 2025.
More than 200 people attended the MCA Food-to-Go conference in London on March 9th, where Lumina Intelligence spoke, and delegates heard presentations from a range of food-to-go operators including Café Nero, Greggs, itsu, Leon, Pret and Pure.
Between inflation, supply chain issues and energy prices, it seems price rises are never-ending. And sadly, the brewing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is signalling yet more price increases for their primary exports: wheat, gas, and fertiliser.
With Veganuary ending and reports that ten times as many people tried plant-based food last month (I was one of them), The Caterer’s Plant-Based Summit 2022 provided an insightful look at the vegan market, as well as fascinating discussions on the challenges and opportunities for operators, manufacturers and chefs.
The Latest from Lumina Intelligence’s Food Strategy Forum
As a leading food and drink agency we make it our business to keep up to date with the latest eating out market trends. Each of the Lumina briefings is hotly awaited to see what they have to share with us as we use these key market insights to inform our planning and strategy for clients in foodservice and the hospitality market. This session looked at the current status of the market and predictions up until 2024 with a focus on the pub and bar sector pulling on findings from their latest report.
