Ten Consumer Trends Shaping the Way We Make Food Choices

There are countless factors that influence how people make food choices in daily life. It’s not necessarily just about what sounds good at the moment, although that’s certainly part of it—there are also bigger social and societal impacts to consider that shape how people consume food.

At InReach, we pay careful attention to changes in consumer food trends so we can always present your people with relevant, tasty, exciting office vending options. To learn more about the convenient services that we are able to provide for your organization, take a moment to get in touch today.

Ten Consumer Trends for Choosing Food

1: Health-Conscious Eating

This is an obvious place to start. More and more people are taking their health into consideration while making food choices, not to mention taking other steps to improve physical well-being, like engaging in regular exercise. When presenting any group of people with convenient food options, it’s important to understand that a meaningful percentage of those people are going to want access to food they consider healthy.

2: Sustainability

It’s not enough for food to be healthy for the people who eat it—that food needs to be good for the environment, too. A growing number of consumers put at least some emphasis in their food decisions on the sustainability of the products they are considering and what impact those products have on the earth around them.

3: Plant-Based Products

Whether an individual is a vegetarian, a vegan, or just likes to favor plant-based products whenever possible, more and more plant-only products are finding success in the market.

4: A Range of Cuisines

Consumers now seek out more diversity within their diets than ever before. Given the connection that exists through platforms like Instagram and TikTok, people are interested in branching out and trying new snack food options that they may not have considered otherwise. 

5: Local Fare

Ironically, as tastes for more varied cuisines have expanded, so too has a desire to source local ingredients. This move toward finding local products to consume is closely tied to the focus on sustainability, as eating things that were grown and processed close to home tends to be better for the environment than shipping products around the globe.

6: Convenience

People are busier than ever in the digital age. One of the biggest micro market trends is foods that can be quickly grabbed and eaten on the go, such as ready-to-eat meals. Foods adopted as a regular part of an individual’s diet not only need to be tasty and nutritious, but they need to be convenient and portable as well.

7: Ethical Sourcing

Some consumers want to understand the journey that their food took to reach their plate or desk. They want to ensure that it was grown and processed in a way that they are comfortable with and that matches their worldview.

8: Serving Personal Needs

It’s also important for people to find foods that align with their own specific needs, whether that is lactose-free products, gluten-free goods, kosher options, or any of a number of other categories.

9: Younger Generations Love Snacking

Research shows that Gen Z loves to snack, as they are more likely than older generations to skip meals in favor of snacks. With the younger crowd spending more of their food budget on snacks than other demographics, this is an important trend to monitor moving forward. 

10: Clean Ingredients

Finally, consumers now often want to see an ingredient list on the back of a packaged item that has a minimal number of ingredients—and features ingredients that they can pronounce and are familiar with.

Put a Brighter Food Future InReach

Successfully serving a diverse group of people with food and drink options that they will love requires striking a balance between following trends and sticking with tried and true solutions. The InReach team works hard to continually optimize the product mix that is presented in your office vending machine or market so they will engage with the offerings and appreciate the value that is added to their day. Getting started with InReach is as easy as making a phone call to chat about your needs, so we hope to hear from you soon!