Make it unique and on trend

Private brand differentiation is critical to many retailers these days as they face an increasingly competitive market. And on the food and beverage side, unique flavor profiles can be powerful differentiators. Retailers that stay abreast of current and emerging flavor trends will have a leg up on their competition.

All the rage

Current trends that continue to rise in popularity include ethnic-inspired flavors — in particular, those inspired by Indian and Cuban cuisine, notes Kelli Heinz, director of marketing and industry affairs for Bell Flavors and Fragrances Inc., Northbrook, Ill. Bell calls the trends the “Well-Traveled Kitchen: India” and the “Well-Traveled Kitchen: Cuba.”

“We’re seeing more and more Indian flavors and also beverages on traditional American menus,” she says. “We’re seeing callouts of different ingredients on some of them. Some of the flavors we highlight are cardamom, garam masala, fried curry leaves, chutneys and ghee — ghee is really taking off right now.”

Also getting attention within this area are rosewater, saffron and tikka masala, Heinz says, as well as lassi-based drinks, which are basically Indian versions of yogurt-based drinks. Like America, India boasts a big snacking culture, she adds, and a lot of the Indian-inspired flavors could easily transfer into snacks for American consumers.

As for the Cuban-inspired flavors trend, Heinz attributes it to the improved relationship between Cuba and the United States and the travel that goes with it. Traditional Cuban staples such as the Medianoche (a smaller Cuban sandwich made with sweet yellow egg bread) and Pastelitos (little pies) — and the unique flavors associated with them — are becoming more familiar to many Americans.

Also on-trend as a flavor element is an old standby: cheese. Russ March, senior director of sales and marketing for New Berlin, Wis.-based Gamay Foods, notes that cheese is showing up everywhere on the foodservice side, where flavor trends often start.

“We see it in appetizers, entrées, desserts,” he says. “We’re really seeing cheese be prevalent on menus, growing in popularity.”

Cheese is also getting more specific when it comes to regions of origin, March adds. For example, instead of just calling it an Asian cheese in a product, product marketers would point out that it’s Korean.

Nostalgic flavors are in vogue, too. Anton Angelich, group vice president, marketing for New York-based Virginia Dare, says “retro-comforting” flavors that also evoke naturalness and are of domestic origin are the most popular. Such flavors include maple, blueberry, raspberry, pumpkin pie, vanilla, sour cherry, tea, ginger, strawberry rhubarb and dairy cream.

Speaking of vanilla, it and other classic flavor favorites “are being reinvented through combinations with ethnic flavors from around the world,” notes Beth Bitzegaio, director, wholesale sales — North America for Waukegan, Ill.-based Nielsen-Massey Vanillas. Those ethnic flavors include hot and spicy flavors from Asia, Central America and South Vanilla, “taking vanilla beyond just sweet dishes.”

Within both the booming refrigerated and non-refrigerated ready-to-drink tea space, black tea with lemon, black tea with peach, and half tea/half lemonade remain popular, according to John Wilson, marketing manager for Edison, N.J.-headquartered Allen Flavors Inc.

“That being said, there are many other flavors coming around to choose from such as berry berry, rose, mint, basil and other botanicals in green, black and white teas,” he says. “Arizona Beverages introduced an oak-infused ice tea last year. It remains to be seen if lovers of bourbon and wines that impart wood flavors will switch to tea as their go-to non-alcoholic beverage, but I’m betting they will and the industry will see more wood flavors in combination with fruits and botanicals.”

And on the coffee side, flavors are trending toward pastry-and cereal-type offerings, Wilson notes, citing Starbucks’ Caramel Waffle Cone Frappuccino as an example. Cold brew coffee is very on trend as well. At the recent Specialty Coffee Association show in Atlanta, Allen Flavors showcased cold brew coffees in French Vanilla and Hazelnut Supreme flavors, he says, but the biggest crowd pleaser was the company’s Sinful Delight flavor, “an indulgent blend of sweet caramel and rich chocolate.”

Finally, one of the biggest current flavor trends isn’t a flavor at all — it’s consumers’ increasing desire for cleaner labels with fewer — or no — artificial ingredients, including on the flavor side.

“We see a lot of requests for clean label and for non-GMO Project Verified types of products,” says Jon Carlat, director, research and development at Gamay Foods’ Gamay Innovation Center. Consumers want “things that they can understand and that they would have in their pantry.”

Bitzegaio agrees.

“Consumers continue to look for simple, understandable labels that show them the origin of their foods,” she says.

Here they come

A number of flavor trends have yet to become mainstream, but likely will pick up steam in the months and years to come. One such emerging trend is that toward “seasonally inspired” flavors, Heinz explains. The trend is linked to the growing number of consumers who purchase produce at farmers markets according to seasonality.

“So they’re buying their mushrooms, dairy or herbs in the spring, peppers in the summer, apples in the fall and root vegetables in the winter,” she says. “We see a lot of those unique fresh callouts of flavors going into packaged goods.”

And “sophisticated” non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages are an emerging trend that’s growing in appeal, Bitzegaio notes.

“Making various ‘ades’ at home with fruits and natural flavors such as pure almond extract and pure lemon extract can be a fun activity and produces healthy results that are a counterpoint to sugary commercial beverages,” she adds.

Wilson also recommends that retailers look to emerging trends in craft cocktails, craft spirits and beer flavors for flavor inspiration. He points to the Coldwater Canyon iced cocktail, made with bourbon, local honey, tangerine shrub and bitters, as one example. Another is the popular Siren Sound cocktail, which is made with vodka, Meyer lemon, orange blossom honey, Brovo Pink and tonic.

“Both are being served at New York City’s trendy farm-to-table restaurant Monument Lane in Greenwich Village,” he says. “One driver behind these trends is the farm-to-table concept in restaurants, which is here to stay as customers look for healthier and humanly produced ingredients in their food and beverages. With so much attention on the quality of ingredients, it only follows that more interest is given to unique flavors and combinations of them.”

Create it carefully

To help ensure success on the flavor-differentiation front, retailers also should build the flavor profile to meet the wants and needs of the demographic it is targeting.

“If it’s going to be a millennial audience, you’re going to want something a little bolder, a little spicier, something that’s more attention-grabbing to pull in that customer,” Heinz stresses. “But if you’re going for the baby boomer generation, you might want something that’s a little more healthful or something that’s going to give them an extra boost for their day.”

And flavor companies also can help retailers and their private brand suppliers identify trends — and meet them via the right flavors and flavor combinations.

For its part, Bell Flavors and Fragrances offers flavors in liquid, powder, spray dry and paste forms — and solutions ranging from flavor enhancers, masking agents and bitterness suppressors to salt reducers and replacers and extenders for vanilla, cocoa, honey and sweeteners.

“We really try to bring [our customers] something unique and relevant to their product,” Heinz says.

And Virginia Dare’s flavor portfolio encompasses thousands of flavors, including fruit, tropical and berries, brown and bakery notes, dairy, spice, indulgent desserts and more. Angelich notes that retailers could find it very worthwhile to work closely with flavor companies in own-brand product development.

“Flavor companies like Virginia Dare work with developing new foods and beverages for many different companies across many food and beverage categories,” he says. “Although individual customer project work is always treated highly confidentially, the expanse of work provides a ‘30,000-foot-level view’ of where the industry trends are going. This knowledge, along with the observance of flavor preference migration from one category to another, is truly valuable guidance information for product developers.”

To meet the trend toward cleaner labels, Gamay Foods recently added a line of clean label enzyme modified cheese concentrates to its extensive line of dairy flavors, signature sauces and custom dry blend seasonings.

“The ingredient deck is just the cheese and the enzyme,” Carlat explains. “There are no fillers, no processing aids.”

In addition, the company recently opened a state-of-the-art research and development center in Wisconsin where they can ideate with customers, as well as create the “gold standard” of a new product and the manufacturing version of it — often in one day, March says.

And Nielsen-Massey Vanillas’ flavor offerings go far beyond various forms of vanilla — with pure extracts in Almond, Chocolate, Coffee, Lemon, Orange and Peppermint varieties, as well as orange blossom water and rose water, available.

“Nielsen-Massey can create custom flavor blends for manufactures or for retailers,” Bitzegaio notes. “We have the capability to create these products in retail sizes or in the larger amounts needed for manufacturing purposes. We also provide the clean labels — all natural, GMO-free, allergen-free, gluten-free — that consumers want to see.”

For own-brand beverages, Allen Flavors has flavor solutions that go across all beverage categories. Wilson notes that the company also can help with clean label solutions, calorie reduction and organic certification for established flavors.

“Allen Flavors maintains a dedicated resource that does nothing but follow trends — the waning, the current and the up-and-coming trends in the beverage industry — for our customers when developing a new beverage or for broadening an existing brand’s offering,” he adds. “Trends can also be scrutinized for a brand’s intended audience, whether it is men, women, millennials, children, baby boomers or seniors.”