DIG IN! THE FUTURE OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY ????

Picture this: you're scrolling through your feed, and boom! Your favorite burger joint just dropped a post about their latest creation – a plant-based burger that tastes just like the real deal. Welcome to the future, my friends, where innovation meets deliciousness.

So, what's on the menu for the future of food? At the Future of Food: Marketing Innovation in the Food Industry conference at SXSW 2024, we heard from Jay Livingston, Chief Marketing Officer of Shake Shack, and Fernando Machado, Senior Marketing Advisor at NotCo, about their expectations and their formula for innovating to keep consumers' attention in such a competitive industry.?

Let’s start with Sustainability.

As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, so does our food. Say goodbye to carbon footprints and hello to eco-friendly dining. From farm-to-table initiatives to zero-waste kitchens, the future is all about reducing our impact on the planet.

But sustainability isn’t just about going green – it's also about embracing new flavors and ingredients. The future of food is diverse, flavorful, and oh-so-exciting.

“(At Shake Shack) We really want to, like, elevate everything that we do, and we want to make sure that we keep that consistent around the world, whether it’s the design of our physical spaces, whether it’s the ingredients that we use. (...) There are certain things we’re not going to compromise on. You know, our bacon, we use Niman Ranch for most of our bacon in the US, the protocol of sustainable farming that Niman follows when raising basically pigs is something that we don’t want to compromise on. So,?we have been keeping those really strict guardrails in mind about what's important to our guests, and what we’re going to stick with, and then, with that in mind, we want to innovate around that.

We always have what we call LTOs, that stands for limited-time options, and we’ll often quarterly have a limited-time sandwich: basically fried chicken sandwiches and burgers (...) so we’re always going to innovate on those classics to grab people’s attention where we can and create a little bit of that buzz. We’re not somebody that can just sit back and just let everybody come to us,?we want to create that buzz, but, we want to do it through a great product.”

Partnerships?

The food and restaurant industry is so vast that it will continue to rely on partnerships between them to create amazing products. This was the case for NotCo and Shake Shack when they decided to collaborate. The two brands had the same vision, the same drive to be creative, bold, and courageous, and they were able to agree to launch non-dairy shakes to Shacks in New York and Florida.?

This is one of the best examples of how collaboration between brands can capture the attention of consumers.

“I do think that (collaborating with other brands or doing partnerships) is part of the future of food because I don’t think anyone is going to define the future by itself (...). I think that a diverse point of view will come, and will bring an outcome that is stronger. That’s why we want to have a partner, so that they can challenge you and so on, and so forth.”

Technology & data supported?

Leaders in all industries know that technology and knowing their consumers will keep them in business for years to come. That's why at Digi-Clicks, your trusted UX and marketing agency in Texas, we also recommend a?UX report that allows you to make decisions based on how your users feel, not on assumptions.

“I want to become more of a fact-based decision-making organization,?I want to be instinct-led, but data-supported. So I want the data to keep us from making mistakes, and I want to highlight opportunities that we have.

As marketers, I think that our job is to try to balance that good hard data with the craft, the art around being creative.”

So, what are you waiting for? The future of food is calling, and it looks delicious. As leaders of food companies, and restaurants, and even as marketing managers, we need to embrace innovation, celebrate diversity, and savor every bite. Bon appétit! ??