2023 PRODUCT TRENDS
WHAT’S TRENDING
Our society has struggled through a series of impactful events over the last few years. Each one could have been seen as generational difficulties, but society is recovering from Covid shutdowns, regional wars, product shortages, high inflation and rapid increases in bank rates that are forcing lifestyle changes. Many consumers in today’s marketplace are feeling disconnected from what life was like just a few short years ago and are looking for a return to normal.
This disconnect has had a strong impact on the food marketplace. Retailers, processors and ingredient suppliers have been forced to quickly pivot in reaction to ingredient shortages, spiking raw material costs and rapidly changing customer wants.
Hela Spice has examined these changes and has picked a few large trends that are presently impacting the food marketplace. We are reviewing global markets, looking at consumer data and picking out trends that we see emerging and are adjusting our creative abilities to help our customers capture their share of the new normal.
This first in a series of newsletters will be looking at the whole growth trend of at–home cooking and how BBQ is an area where companies can be creative and develop exciting new products to quickly meet these needs.
COMFORT AND NOSTALGIC FOODS
- The onset of the COVID-19 health emergency caused a lot of
consumers to gravitate towards comforting foods to help
them cope with the reality of what was unfolding. - This love of comfort foods has been compounded by a
millennial age group who are beginning to have children. - Having children is allowing millennial parents to revisit memories from their childhood. Creating a demand for nostalgic foods, specifically for 90s nostalgia.
- Mintel reports that 76% of people ages 22 – 55 enjoy things that remind them of the past, more than any other age group
WHAT IS COMFORT BBQ?
Comfort BBQ is a trend satisfying needs that have emerged like the desire for home cooking with the desire for family and friends to get together again. It evokes the nostalgia of cooking products that remind people of earlier times with flavours and smells that bring back comforting memories and create new ones. These BBQ products have to be easy to prepare, have simple labels, as well as delight the consumer with flavours normally achieved in a restaurant. At the same time these products have to cover a wide range of categories and selections as the market has a wider range of needs in their food products.
Traditional Meat BBQ
A traditional approach to meat BBQ offerings is fine, but at Hela, we want to bring some of the exciting restaurant BBQ product ideas home to consumers and make it easy for them to experience these flavours on their home grill. Our Meat R&D Specialists have been coming up with some great products that offer this eating experience, at home.
Non – Meat BBQ Options
This area goes far beyond vegan meat analogues. Our team of innovative food specialists have re-imagined the category and have taken great ideas from across the globe and are creating delicious products that will delight any consumer as they come off the BBQ, hot and mouth watering
Complimentary Side Dishes
And no BBQ is complete without some delicious sides that add depth to the eating experience and allow a consumer to customize a meal to make it memorable.
MEAT, TRADITIONAL AND STILL EXCITING!
Consumers are still looking for traditional BBQ products, but they want it to also be interesting and easy to prepare. Some of the biggest trends in 2023 are Nuanced Heat and Nostalgic. We have developed a wide range of product concepts available that meet these requirements and are traditional enough to evoke nostalgia and comfort, but at the same time are different enough to surprise and delight.
Fast Grill Marinated Steaks
Simple to grill, great tasting and marinated to allow the use of lower cost cuts and still exceed expectation. Hela Spice is taking the best flavours of Southern US BBQ and using them to create delicious marinades like a Memphis Sweet Sauce.
Grilled Chicken
Chicken is a traditional grilling favourite. A cost-effective BBQ option that really allows for creativity in flavours and appearance. Our team has developed a wide range of comforting flavours for rubs and sauces, that will really attract consumers like a Molasses, Brown Sugar and Apple Cider Vinegar grilling sauce to a simple Smokey Cilantro Lime Thigh, covered in an Alabama White Sauce.
Sausages
Pork Sausages are always a great BBQ option. And if Hela Spice knows anything, its sausages. Over the years we have created hundreds of deliciously flavoured sausages, so one way to differentiate is to take a traditionally very popular flavour and return it to glory using high quality ingredients and just a slight twist to attract consumers. May we suggest a Hickory Smoked Honey Sriracha using real honey or Pineapple Teriyaki with a hint of heat from jalapeno.
Seafood
BBQ Seafood can range from a simple Australian style Beer and Butter Shrimp “throw a shrimp on the barby” to a delicious Cilantro, Lemon and Red Pepper Salmon Filet. Traditional flavours that create an expectation and then satisfy.
GRILLING IS FOR VEGGIES AS WELL
When people think of BBQ, they instantly think of meats. However, one of the growing trends is grilling vegetables, either as a side dish to the meat main or as the main dish in vegan meals. Fortunately, Hela Spice has experience in creating delicious vegan meat analogues as well as the ability to add spark and flavour to grilled vegetables and fruits. Let’s explore this growing category together.
We are again taking our abilities to adapt both popular and complex flavours and our abilities to create textures to develop a broad line of BBQ ready vegetable products. These products all meet the latest trends of culinary exploration along with the ever-growing non-meat category.
BBQ Ready Grilled Veggies
- Mexican street corn cob, covered with a flavourful coating of flavours like mayo, sour cream, cheese, chili powder and lime
- Marinated sweet potato slice, thick and full of flavour, dusted with a coating of brown sugar, spices and a touch of heat with a pinch green jalapeno
- Mixed slices of red onion, portobello mushroom, asparagus, eggplant, zucchini, red pepper and yellow squash brightened with the flavours of the Mediterranean
Veggie Patties and Sausages
- Hela Spice knows how to make great meat analogues. If you want to make great tasting beef-like patties with fried onions and vegan cheddar cheese pieces, we can help. We can also get creative and add dark beer notes or steak spice hints.
- Great vegan patties that just flat out, taste great with simple labels, excellent nutrition and fun flavours like; spicy beetroot, multi-grain smokey red lentil, dill and roasted red pepper and many more.
- Taking the traditional vegan soy-based sausage concept and updating it with new and brighter flavours like Tzatziki falafel or sweet potato with carrot, onion and black beans.
OF COURSE, SIDE DISHES
Side Dishes are what sets a standard BBQ apart from a memorable one and these can offer a great way to combine the 2023 Trends of Nostalgia with Cuisine Exploration and even offer that restaurant eating experience at home. People associate Hela Spice with center- of-the-plate dishes, but we have broad experience in many different side dishes and sauces that make a meal special and that offers processors a way of adding profitable products to your catalogue.
How about these ideas?
Salads and Sides
- Mustard Dill Spiced Red Potato Salad
- Feta, Black Olive, Tomato and Red Wine Vinegar Macaroni Salad
- Balsamic Mint Watermelon Salad
- BBQ Tater Casserole
Roasted Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes
- Garlic, Herb and Butter
- Applewood BBQ Seasoned
- Blackened Jerk Sweet Potatoes
Seasoned Butters
- Steak Spice Butter
- Salt and Pepper Butter
- Buffalo Wing Butter
- Teriyaki Butter
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, BBQ BREADS
How do you have a great BBQ without delicious and memorable bread products? You need buns for burgers, hot dogs and sausages, to scoop up sauces and flavoured butters and as a calming counterpoint to all the strong flavours that are happening everywhere else on the menu. Our creative group of R&D specialists, have been developing flavoured bread products for well over 20 years and have excellent ideas on how to use the latest trends to create fun and novel baked goods.
How about trying these ideas?
Flavoured Buns – a growing trend of completing a burger or sausage with delicious visuals and flavours
- Steak Spice and Dark Ale
- Horseradish Flavoured
- Double Hickory Smoked
- Wasabi (not for the faint of heart)
- Spicy Mustard and Relish Sausage
- Spicy Jerk
Flavoured Breads – a strong trend in Asia and growing in North America. The breads can be spicy or sweet, with visuals or without, but need to deliver on their name.
- Butter Buffalo Wing Sauce
- Brown Sugar, Molasses and Apple
- Ghost Pepper and Cane Sugar Corn
- Honey and Garlic
- Roasted Red Pepper and Oregano
WHY SHOULD YOU WORK WITH HELA SPICE?
- R&D Team experienced in many different
product categories
- Ability to create products based on
customers’ ideas - Ability to bring new product ideas and fully
developed concepts for customer review - Real plant production experience that
enables Hela Spice to create an easy to
produce system of blends and raw materials
including processing instructions, to make
processing simple for companies - We can adapt procedures to best utilize
available plant processing equipment
Have a product idea? Tell us all about it and your search for the perfect ingredients. Find it all at Hela Spice. Let’s talk about your next best-seller.
