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Editorial Director: Rik HaslamPublisher: MaryLee Sachs
Editor in Chief: Austin RandallCreative Director: Michael Mackay
Art Director/Designer: Jon HerreraAdam Woods
Head of Production: Lauren Strickland
Contributing Writers: Rosanna BeartHannah ConwayAndrew Sacks-Hoppenfeld Markus Miklis
© BrandPie Inc, 2018
Letter From The EditorWelcome to the first issue of magpie – a new quarterly publication that tunes into signals from culture to help you navigate our transformative times. Each issue will focus on a specific vertical and feature stories sourced from our global network of strategists and industry experts. For this launch issue, magpie surveys the food and beverage landscape, reporting on the emerging trends that are driving innovation, influencing customer behavior and revealing powerful insights about the future direction of the sector. From food waste to new production methods, the rise of narco-foods and Gen Z’s inspiring relationship with the kitchen, magpie’s contributors reveal rich and dramatic shifts in our relationship with food.
Many of the changes we’re seeing are counter-intuitive: among the surprises is the impact of seemingly trivial remixes of nostalgic food favorites. We’ve also been impressed by the pace at which transformative new farming technologies are being created and deployed. In creating magpie it’s our intent to be both informative and entertaining, and to bring you a global view that delivers a thought-provoking mix of perspectives.
Enjoy and do let us know what you think – we welcome all feedback.
Austin RandallEditor in Chief
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Con
tent
s Artificial Ingredients Intelligence
Kitchen Invasion
The New Mobile Menu
Fabulously Flawed
Taste Buds
Packaged Perfection
The Forgotten Food Groups
The Economics of Waste
About BrandPie
Contact
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Farm to table takes on a whole new meaning as technology redefines what it means to be free-range, organic and local.
ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS INTELLIGENCE
Hannah Conway Photo Credit: Sean Gumm
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For many, factory farming practices are considered as evil as Big Tobacco or child labor. In 2002, “The Meatrix” was released online to the horror of many. The short-form video spoofed the popular sci-fi movie and critiqued the façade put up by the factory farming industry, unapologetically revealing the animal cruelty and mass pollution happening behind closed doors. The video has since been translated into over 30 different languages and watched by 30 million people around the world.
Since then, internet culture has continued the wide-ranging discussion around the politics of food. Though our society may be increasingly alienated from the production of the food it consumes, we’ve become ever more obsessed with the ethics of its creation. As a result, “responsible” eating emerged as a dominant trend of the first decade of the 21st century, with words like vegan, local, free-range and organic becoming proxies for sustainable, healthy food.
Fifteen years later, the food production industry has come up with a potential solution: new technologies that enable environmentally-friendly, highly-regulated, and cruelty-free practices. Enter the factory farm, reborn with sustainability at the core of its development.
AUTONOMOUS AIHuman labor in the food industry is becoming increasingly obsolete,
with AI-empowered machines taking over processes both in the kitchen
and in the field.
“Flippy,”created by Miso Robotics, is a robotic kitchen aid that
assists with grilling, prepping, and plating meals through the use
of cameras, sensors, and mechanical arms. The precision of these
robotics is unprecedented: the University’s Lincoln Institute of Agri-
food Technology modeled a fully autonomous broccoli-picking robot after
the Mars lander, which uses AI connected to a 3D camera to guide the
machinery with a, “soft, gentle touch to pluck each stem with minimal
damage” (Raconteur 2017).
Last year, Harper Adams University teamed up with agricultural
equipment company Precision Decisions to create the Hands Free Hectare
project. This bold initiative enabled the harvesting of an entire
barley crop without a single human hand. With a high turnover rate
of service workers in restaurants and the increasing difficulty of
finding farm laborers at all, it’s easy to see why food distributors
and producers are turning to robots to fill these positions. Accenture
estimates that AI will raise productivity in the agricultural sphere 53
per cent by 2035.
Autonomous farming start-up Iron Ox is developing machine-learning
algorithms to detect underdeveloped or sick plants, which can then
be removed by robotic arms that constantly monitor the crops. The
increased efficiency of these developments has the potential to
make significant contributions to the creation of environmentally
sustainable farming and agricultural processes.
Last year, Hahn Family Wines joined forces with Verizon to implement
a new set of sensors that continuously measure the moisture levels of
the soil in their fields. Andy Mitchell, their Director of Viticulture,
noted that this technology allows their team to closely monitor water
usage, “Then we know we’ve put on too much water so we can cut back. It
really helps us fine-tune our application methods” (Wired 2017).
THAT SAID, AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGIES ARE NOT ONLY REPLACING HUMAN LABOR, THESE MACHINES ARE ALSO SURPASSING HUMANS IN THEIR ABILITY TO MONITOR THE PROCESSES OF FOOD PRODUCTION.
Hannah Conway
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VERTICAL FARMING REACHES NEW HEIGHTSBy 2050, the world’s population is expected to grow to 9.7 billion,
with 2/3 living in urban areas. The food production industry must
adjust accordingly. China in particular has struggled to feed its
rising population, mostly due to growing urban centers encroaching on
arable land sources; soil pollution resulting in toxic crops further
complicates the issue. Their solution is to invest heavily in vertical
farming. Beijing startup Alesca Life creates mobile farming units —
hydroponic plants stacked in portable shipping containers or smaller,
cabinet sized formats that can be bought by food retailers, processors,
and even restaurants. The units are designed to fit easily within any
urban center.
Another example is Singapore, one of the most densely populated cities
in the world — in its entirety, it has only 250 acres of farmable
land. In order to feed an ever-growing population, the city has begun
partnering with companies like Jack Ng’s Sky Greens. The firm has set
up one of the first commercial vertical farms in Singapore to help
feed the population and prove the concept. Surging investments in
the development of these vertical and rotational farming applications has
helped the technology advance and spread out into neighboring countries.
The vertical farming movement is not just limited to Asia, in fact it’s
gaining traction all across the globe. In France, startup Agricool
raised $9.1 million in funding to grow food in mobile containers that
will be placed in cities globally. U.S. based vertical farming start-
up Plenty is opening a 100,000 square foot indoor farm in Seattle, with
the aim to, “deliver industry-leading yields of local, backyard-quality
produce that’s completely GMO and pesticide-free” (Plenty 2017).
Vertical farms boast the capability of producing 100x the standard
yield of crops on a fraction of the land and using considerably less
water than a conventional agricultural site. The science backs these
claims up: recent studies of hydroponics have proven higher yields
with more water efficiency, not to mention reduced emissions from
drastically cutting back transported food. Other benefits include
planting that does not rely on weather or seasons, zero-use of
pesticides, and fresher produce delivered the day it is procured.
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SYNTHETICFood production is not only changing its footprint – it’s
also changing its very molecular structure. Since the first
lab-grown burger patty was unveiled in 2013, funding to
synthetic biology startups has more than tripled. Memphis
Meats, backed by investors Bill Gates and Richard Branson,
is developing a way to produce real meat from animal cells,
“without the need to feed, breed and slaughter actual
animals” (Memphis Meats 2017). But Memphis Meats is just
one among many in the growing sector of synthetic food.
Finless Foods aims to use cellular culture technology to
mass manufacture marine food products that will resemble
fish in look, taste and texture – the only difference being
the way it’s produced. Clara foods even makes egg whites
from genetically modified yeast. New Harvest is a non-
profit organization that aims to “reinvent the way we make
animal products – without animals.” The company’s CEO,
Isha Datar, predicts that the field of biogenetics will
impact mainstream audiences in a matter of years: “It will
be like open-source software… The cells are the code” (New
Scientist 2017).
The desired end game for these projects is clear: cruelty-
free harvesting processes with a lessened environmental
impact. “We expect our products to be better for the
environment (requiring up to 90% fewer greenhouse gas
emissions, land and water than conventionally-produced
meat), the animals and public health” (WorldWatch 2017).
Worldwide meat production has tripled over the last four
decades and has increased 20 percent in the last ten years
alone — this demand will only increase as the world’s
population rises.
The next wave of sustainability is less about individual
choices. It’s more about how companies adopt and
implement new technologies to make the practices of
food production more sustainable. The next wave of food
production will make people rethink the labels on their
packages – and what words like organic, local, and vegan
mean when they are divorced from nostalgic concepts of
today’s conventional farms.
Hannah Conway
REVOLUTION
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IT WILL BE LIKEOPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE...THE CELLS ARE THE CODE
Photo Credit: Jatuphon Buraphon
REVOLUTION
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In the age of the rockstar chef, kids all over America are trading t-ball for tea time and turning the kitchen into their new playground.
Hannah Conway
ada! Everybody look what I made!” shouts 10-year-old Charli with glee, holding up a cupcake popped into the top of a cup full of M&Ms. Seems normal? Maybe not so much – this particular
video of the child baker and Youtube sensation has been watched over 122 million times. Charli’s channel has over 800,000 subscribers and reportedly brings in over $127,000 a month from ad revenue (DailyMail 2015). Charli is not alone in her demographic: kids today are more involved in the kitchen than ever before. Nielsen ratings show that 60% of kids between the ages of 2 and 17 watch Food Network shows with their parents and nearly 4 in 10 kids, including 51% of teens, say they have recently cooked a meal from scratch. Further, kids associate cooking as part of their identity — with food ranking as one of Gen Z’s top obsessions, ranking higher than either music or sports (Ad Age 2015).
A recent study from the Harvard Grant Survey showed that people who grew up doing chores and housework in childhood are happier later in life (Business Insider 2015). So it makes sense that teaching children how to cook similarly fosters self-sufficiency and independence. Spending more time together in the kitchen also allows adults to pass on knowledge of healthy eating habits to their kids, a topic of chief concern to parents today (Barkley US 2017). Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, time spent cooking provides families with time to connect in an age of endless distractions. With more parents working outside the home, this quality family time is more valuable than ever before.
TTTTT“““““
Increased involvement of kids in the kitchen could be seen a result of shifting cultural attitudes about child-rearing – a backlash to the helicopter parenting that produced a generation of anxious and dependent kids and adults.
Hannah Conway
At the start of January 2018, a Whole Foods in Alpharetta, Georgia, opened “Salud! Cooking School,” offering a range of cooking classes for children.
Butter Beans Cooking Class teaches kids about the skills, ingredients, techniques and vocabulary required to make nutritious meals.
CharlisCraftyKitchen features a 10-year-old baker, and has over 800 000 subscribers.
Flynn McGarry has been referred to as the “Justin Beiber of food.”
55555C O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O KC O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O KC O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O KC O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O KC O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O K
CHEF INFLUENCERS
COOKING CLASSES
Hannah Conway
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C O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O KC O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O KC O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O KC O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O KC O M P A N I E S T H A T H E L P K I D S C O O K
Curious chef creates cooking utensils for kids.
KITCHEN TOOLS
31% of consumers buying meal kits fall into the “Families with children” category (Nielsen 2018).
Kidstir is a meal kit company aimed at children.
MEAL KITS
Minnesota Super Bowl put on the “Super Snack challenge” inviting 10 finalists (aged 8-14) to make their favorite recipes for a panel of celebrity judges.
Top Chef Junior, following in the footsteps of Master Chef Junior and Chopped Junior, is the latest cooking show in which young chefs can compete.
COMPETITIVE KITCHEN
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Photo Credit: Annabelle Breakey &
twom
eows
The New Mobile MenuThe culinary horizons for weary
travelers are fast expanding as
food options take a surprising twist
in the road and pit stops morph
into experiences.
Rosanna Beart
ime spent travelling hasn’t traditionally been seen
as time well-spent, but rather as a means to an end,
a necessary inconvenience.
Recently though, brands have begun to help people
embrace their time on the move by turning journeys
into high class culinary experiences where the
destination is simply part of the menu.
One brand leading the way in creating culinary
adventures is Weight Watchers. In May, they set
sail on the first, ‘Live Life Fully’ Caribbean cruise,
where for seven nights the brand aimed to, “help
people enjoy what they love - including food, people,
experiences and the energy that comes with good
health.” Not only is the cruise indicative of a growing
trend, it signals a fundamental change in the way
we think about food on the go. Weight Watchers has
changed the paradigm - shifting dieting from being a
burdensome chore by seamlessly integrating it into
an enjoyable vacation experience.
The trend of creating more holistic experiences
around meals is gathering steam in markets around
the globe. The idea that the journey and the food are
interlinked has also been explored by UberEats and
Volvo in Tokyo. Only this time the focus is not around
health but opulence. The collaboration provides
customers with an, ‘All Star Restaurant’ where
customers drive around in a Volvo XC90 that stops
at several of the city’s best restaurants – becoming,
in essence a “rolling buffet.” Customers are served different courses and champagne
directly in their car seats, all while drinking in the sights of their constantly changing
surroundings. At the end of the trip, customers are dropped off precisely where they
started, enriched and satiated, having completed a culinary journey rather than a
traditional trip from A to B.
Whether through novelty or distraction, companies like these are seeking to
encourage consumers by creating engaging travel experiences that support
their products and enhance their brands. And it seems to be catching on.
Rosanna Beart
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While many of us graze unhealthily to distract ourselves while traveling,
Weight Watchers have cleverly integrated dieting into the joys
of a Caribbean cruise experience.
Photo Credit: Oliur Rahman
FAST
Rosanna Beart
of drivers admit to eating behind the wheel – despite the dangers.
70%
30%
drop in your taste buds’ sensitivity to sweet and salty foods on an airplane.
$2B was invested by American Airlines on customer experience, completely redesigning its first class meal service.
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FAST
FAC
TS5th The 5th most
important attribute of a restaurant experience, is the location.
$683.1B spent on leisure travel each year in the US.
20% of all American meals are now eaten in the car.
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Organic, farm-to-table, vegan – three of the biggest
trends spearheading our move toward healthier,
more conscientious eating. But recently, we are
seeing the emergence of foods that seem to buck
the norm in both form and appearance. Whether
purely subversive or the reflection of growing
consumer nostalgia and a desire to revert to the
past, brands are making headlines with some
unexpected food and drink releases.
Discernibly natural and organic foods sell for a
hefty premium in stores. Imperfect Produce has
responded to this trend, making a living by buying
and re-selling ‘ugly’ foods and marketing their
imperfections as proof that they weren’t artificially
cultivated to a cosmetic standard. So what’s driving
this trend of food blatantly designed for aesthetic
quirkiness? For some, it seems to be less of a
backlash against the perfectly packaged and more
of a marketing ploy that appreciates the ‘Instagram-
ability’ of weird inventions. We’re not talking about
baseball sized strawberries in February here, the
trend is far more grotesque. We’re talking about
things like black-ink gyoza dumplings, pink coffee
and the mermaid-toast that sparked an entire lurid
sub-trend in ‘unicorn food.’
On the other end of the spectrum, some brands are
satyisfying the demand of those who seek to be
simultaneously healthy and naughty. A new trend
has risen around engineering produce to resemble
things they are not. Some brands have taken a
chance on the idea that consumers committed
to being vegetarian or vegan might still crave
indulgent food and snacks — they’re being proven
New food trends are blurring the lines between healthy eating and self indulgence.
savvy. Meet the ‘impossible burger’ — a vegetarian
burger from Impossible Foods that looks, feels,
tastes and smells like ground beef, even though it’s
made entirely of plants. It even ‘bleeds’ when cut
open. The team spent five years researching what it
is about meat that people love - the sizzle, the smell,
the juicy first bite. They then set out to find exactly
the right plant ingredients and science needed to
recreate those sensory elements. The company’s
aim isn’t to defy health trends, but instead open
them up to as wide an audience as possible, even
if that means creating something that seems a
bit unnatural. Democratizing healthy eating has
become big business.
Brands are scrambling to make satisfying our most indulgent desires easy, accessible and healthy enough not to put us in an early grave
— behold the vegan junk food market. Pizza Hut
just released their new vegan cheese option to
cater to an increasing number of vegans, following
a similar move by Domino’s in Israel. By Chloe,
a rapidly expanding vegan fast food chain was
awarded Grub Street’s most successful restaurant
opening back in 2015 and London’s street food
stand Biff ’s Jack Shack, claims it was, ‘sent from the
future to save vegan food’ by serving ‘filthy junk
food.’ These are just a few brands marketing their
products on the basis that while legitimately vegan
they’re seasoned with a little vulgar indulgence.
25Photo Credit: Jenny Dettrick
Today’s Specials01 ‘Shamrock Shake’
02 Black Burger
03 ‘Adult Meal’
04 Quesadilla with KitKat Inside
05 Sweet & Crunchy Tenders
06 Cherry Pie and Unicorn Frappuccino
07 Mushroom - Infused coffee
08 Soup in a bottle
09 Algae du jour
10 Crosushi
McDonalds
Burger King
Burger King
Taco Bell
Popeyes
Starbucks
Whole Foods
Fawen
The Ocean
Holmes Bakery
A green milkshake designed to liven up your St Patrick’s day celebration.
A sweet variety of the traditional quesadilla that includes chocolate and Kit Kat wafer pieces inside.
Released worldwide for Halloween and always available in Japan.
Israel offered an ‘adults meal’ on Valentine’s day 2017, complete with adult toy.
made with a shortbread cookie coating that provides both a sweet flavor and crunchy texture.
A multicolored mix of unicorn inspired fruit flavors.
Mushrooms add powerful antioxidants and immune support to your morning cup of joe.
A ready to drink vegan soup broth - say goodbye to juicing and hello to souping.
Try adding this powerful superfood to anything from smoothies and ice cream to salad dressing and even cookies.
A buttery spin on sushi, replacing seaweed with a croissant.
Rosanna Beart
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... even though it’s made entirely of plants ...
... it ‘bleeds’ when cut open.
“
”Photo Credit: Peter Tarasiuk
With Marijuana rapidly becoming mainstream and legal across the country, new creative uses and applications abound. We explore some of the most interesting developments in new weed-based supplements and food products.
Andrew Sacks-Hoppenfeld Photo Credit: Emre Gencer
29Photo Credit: Emre Gencer
In 2012 the first states, Colorado and Washington,
legalized recreational marijuana for adults. This
was the beginning of a steady movement that now
has over 50% of states in the USA (currently 29)
legalizing recreational marijuana use in some form.
In this modern day marijuana gold rush, companies
are betting huge amounts of money on the industry.
These investments have resulted in a new under-
standing of the marijuana plant itself, its many
chemical varients and how they can be used for a
wide range of purposes.
Food products are just one of the most interesting,
and potentially profitable applications of marijua-
na. The most common and well known form of food
product associated with marijuana is the edible
— often a sugary treat that gets you really, really
high. While most people probably think of brownies
when talking about marijuana edibles, there are end-
less ways marijuana can be infused into food and not
always in a way that gets the consumer — ‘high’.
THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana
but there are also CBDs, the group of chemicals
used for most of the medicinal applications of the
plant. Any dispensary in a state with medicinal or
recreational marijuana laws will have a wide range
of edible products from baked goods to candies,
sodas and other snack foods, not all of which are
solely meant to get you ripped.
Infusing food with cannabis has left the dorm room
and entered the American kitchen.
We’re witnessing a marijuana gold rush,
with companies betting huge amounts of money
on the industry.
Most people probably think of brownies when talking about marijuana edibles but there are endless ways marijuana can be infused into food.
Andrew Sacks-Hoppenfeld
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Apart from THC and CBD, scientists have also start-
ed to extract aromatic terpenes from the plants.
Terpenes are the fragrant oils that give cannabis its
pungent smell and taste. Just a few drops of ter-
pene concentrate can add tremendous and unique
flavor to foods.
Bong Appetit, a show on Viceland, explores how
chefs can incorporate various parts of the plant into
traditional dishes. The show invites professionals
and famous chefs from around the country to cook
a marijuana infused meal from their weed kitchen
in California. These high-end meals use THC, CBD,
terpenes and raw plant matter to create balanced
and delicious meals that just happen to include
marijuana.
The trend is also penetrating far beyond the tradi-
tional food market, influencing more unexpected
markets such as pet food and treats. CBD, the
non-psychoactive element in marijuana is being
used to treat canine anxiety. Instead of feeding
your dog Xanax or Prozac (yes, that’s a thing) you
can feed them low-dose marijuana treats, tested
to achieve the same calming and anxiety reducing
effect as a wide range of pharmaceuticals and
narcotics, all while boasting fewer side effects and
no risk of addiction.
The monetary and technological investment in
marijuana based products has resulted in new
uses for a plant that was once considered a ‘gate-
way drug’. These advances are demonstrating that
marijuana can be used and consumed in myriad
ways.
With today’s consumers taking a more open mind-
ed approach to the plant, its use in food products
is driving innovation, creativity and revenue for a
new market estimated to be worth $31.4 billon by
2021, according to a report by Brightfield Group, a
cannabis market research firm.
HOW WE EXPERIENCE FOOD—HOW WE SEE IT, SMELL IT AND HOW WE TASTE IT—HAS BECOME AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE PACKAGING. FOR CHEFS, BRANDS AND RESTAURANTEURS, THE EMPHASIS ON PRESENTATION HAS MASSIVE IMPLICATIONS.
PACKAGED PERFECTION
Austin Randall Photo Credit: Matthew Roharik
33Photo Credit: Matthew Roharik
Packaging is defined in the Merriam Webster
dictionary as: “the presentation of a person,
product, or action in a particular way.”
Packaging has driven many innovations in an
industry where presentation is as precious and
premeditated as the product it portrays . Customers
have come to expect more from ‘packaging’ than
fancy logos, nutritional education and best-before
dates. Brands have realized that the experience
that gets wrapped around products is as important
as the physical packaging and even the food itself.
For today’s customers and brands, ‘packaging’
has grown to signify something much larger — a
destination, an exploration and an invitation to try
something new.
DIGITAL DISHESThese days, Instagram is the de-facto presentation
layer for the food experience. It’s de rigeur to snap
a photo of your food before actually eating it. Many
new restaurants even design their interiors to
encompass instagrammable signature features, as
people’s social media habits become just as relevant
as their menu preferences. According to recent
research 8-35 year-olds spend five whole days a
year browsing food images on Instagram, and 30
per cent would avoid a restaurant if their Instagram
presence was weak.
Does this mean a chef ’s food is only as good as
her last post? Instagram has become a sort of
interactive menu, where would-be customers
browse pictures of dishes and read comments
on atmosphere — often choosing what to eat
based on how the food looks and the vibe of
the establishment.
So, how are chefs translating a compelling visual
presentation and social media presence into actual
foot traffic? One approach is challenging an old
taboo and bringing politics directly to the table.
Celebrity chef Jose Andres decided to get involved in
a social project to boost his social media presence,
and appeal to new customers. To reach his goal,
the chef, along with his #ChefsForPuertoRico
network and volunteers. served hot meals and
sandwiches in Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities by
mobilizing food trucks and setting up kitchens
across the island. This campaign was covered
on Twitter and Instagram, securing wide press
coverage and gaining Jose followers and customers
for his New York restaurant.
In a more risky buzz-generating gamble, some
restaurants have declared their establishments
Trump free zones. Such ploys can backfire. When
Mila Kunis, a spokeswoman for Jim Beam, used
Twitter to fire a shot at the current administration,
it was a step too far for some fans of the brand. A
boycott followed. Clearly consumers are paying
close attention, and some people still prefer their
food served without a helping of politics.
SENDING CELLPHONES BACK TO THE KITCHEN Some experiences are packaged around a rejection
of contemporary norms and are designed for
those seeking a refuge from the real-time. At the
Japanese ramen chain, Ichiran, service is a huge
part of the dining experience. You’ll be asked to
leave your phone off and keep conversation to a
bare minimum. The idea is that, “there’s something
to be said for allowing yourself to simply focus on
the food by isolating yourself from the rest of the
world” (Ichiran 2018). At Ichiran there is no talking
to waiters, they claim you’ll, “enjoy a higher level
of Ramen,” when you sit silently at their flavor
concentration booths. Orders are placed by
pressing a button and handing a slip of paper
through a bamboo covered window. Meals are
silently delivered through the same window.
While Ichiran put a spotlight on their food by
removing all distractions, others appeal to more
ethical concerns by limiting their packaging’s
impact on the environment.
ECO FRIENDLY PACKAGINGCircular design is the philosophy or trend of
removing as much physical packaging as possible.
The average American produces over 4 pounds of
trash per day. In an attempt to address this insanity
some companies and grocery stores have begun to
introduce new products and systems to mitigate
the problem. An app called Miwa, launched in
the Czech Republic, delivers custom quantities of
groceries to customers in reusable packaging.
Algramo, a Chilean company, is developing a
system for selling products in reusable containers
in local convenience stores. Even the coffee market
is getting a facelift. CupClub, is a UK subscription
service for reusable lids. TrioCup offer an origami-
style folding cup with attached lid. Both innovations
have won funding for further development. And
yet however noble these and similar products are,
they are still in their infancy. Larger brands may
seize the opportunity to fast-track mass-market
introduction of such reputation enhancing features.
On the industrial scale, there is an interesting
trend emerging around packaging that is actually
edible itself. Thanks to research at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, there now exists an
edible and biodegradable food packaging material
made out of casein, a milk protein.
Apart from doing away with the environmental
blight of individually wrapped items, edible
packaging actually adds nutritional value to the
snack it’s wrapping. In addition to adding protein,
the casein packaging is up to 500 times more
effective than plastic at blocking oxygen from the
food it protects, allowing items to stay fresh longer.
THANKS TO RESEARCH AT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, THERE NOW EXISTS AN EDIBLE AND BIODEGRADABLE FOOD PACKAGING MATERIAL MADE OUT OF CASEIN, A MILK PROTEIN.
Austin Randall
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It can also be used in place of chemicals as a
protective spray on pizza boxes or in place of
sugar coatings on cereal flakes. Unfortunately,
don’t expect to be munching your string cheese
wrapper just yet, the process currently takes
too long to be a viable replacement for plastics.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture it
will take another 2-3 years of development before
mass production can begin. There are however
a few products currently on the market that you
can actually try. Delta, a UK based company,
helps restaurants make sauces in edible packets
and Evoware is selling Belgian waffles wrapped
in edible seaweed. Compostable/biodegradable
flatware and containers have been around a bit
longer. Places like Whole Foods continue to use
these, and their quality has steadily improved over
the past few years to the point where they are now
indistinguishable from their plastic predecessors.
Along with flatware, another major pollutant
comes from discarded plastic water bottles.
Icelandic product designer, Ari Jónsson, decided
he needed to take action and has fashioned a
biodegradable water bottle from algae.
INTERACTIVE PACKAGINGAlthough the majority of innovation in packaging
is of the digital or environmental variety, there
are a few brands who are taking packaging to the
next level. Kuvee has developed a Wi-Fi enabled,
‘smart-bottle’ that replaces the conventional paper
labels on wine bottles. A full LED touchscreen now
allows customers to rate and share their reviews
right from the bottle. Following in the unnecessary
innovation trend, we also have the Pizza Hut,
“Blockbuster Box” a tabletop projector powered by
your smartphone and your used pizza delivery box.
A slightly more utilitarian invention is the McBike
— a McDonald’s box that helps you get burgers
and shakes home on a bike without worrying
about spillage!
ARE WE RUINING OUR APPETITES?For millennials and Gen X’ers, ‘instagram-ability’
risks taking precedence over taste and may distract
from the social experience of enjoying a meal with
other people. While Instagram can introduce you
to new foods and cultural phenomena, the focus
on appearance and sharing for social currency isn’t
without potential pitfalls. According to the Journal
of Consumer Psychology, “if we spend too much
time repeatedly viewing such foods… this can lead
to pre-satiation. That is, you’re already a bit tired of
the food before you even start eating it.”
Is over-sharing ruining our appetites? Regardless
of the answer, there will continue to be further
innovations in food packaging and experience,
and while some will definitely make things more
interesting for the consumer, the innovations that
really improve our lives are the environmentally
minded variety.
Although water bottles made from algae and
seaweed wrappers aren’t the sexiest of trends,
they definitely represent the most noble variety.
It could be that sustainability innovations are what
will ensure we’re all around to experience the
next big thing.
C E R E A L P O PC O R N T H E A 1H A M B U R G E RF O R G O T T E N C H O C O L A T E C A N D Y F O O DD O U G H N U T SG R O U P S P I E
Andrew Sacks-Hoppenfeld
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C H E F S T U R N O L D M E M O R I E S I N T O N E W D I S H E S - E Q U A L PA R T S N O S TA L G I A A N D N O V E LT Y.When developing a restaurant or menu, chefs and restaurateurs often look to culture to find new ways to connect with customers and lure in new ones. Most recently, chefs are looking to the past and creating new dishes that connect to old memories. Whether it’s through incorporating child - hood favorites or dusting off forgotten ingredients, chefs are reimagining our favorite foods in bold new ways. Flip the page to see five examples of chefs that are cooking up the future by tapping into our collective past.
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SPAMSpam is a canned food that everyone has heard
of but few outside of Hawaii have dared to eat in
the last 30 years. Most people think of Spam as a
canned “meat-product” akin to cat food, but many
chefs are using it as a novelty ingredient in high end
dishes. Chefs like Kosmas Koukoulis, the owner of
Uncle’s Hawaiaan Grindz, in Baltimore, uses Spam
as a key ingredient in several of his dishes. He
grew up with Spam and has many customers who
frequent his restaurant solely for a high-end twist
on the old ration food of their childhood.
MAX BRENNER CHOCOLATE BAR Who doesn’t love chocolate? Max Brenner’s
chocolate bar has locations worldwide with a focus
on everybody’s favorite food addiction — high
quality chocolate — the most ubiquitous sweet on
earth. Whether you are drawn to the restaurant for
a chocolate fondue spread or just a standard waffle
drizzled with fudge, Max Brenner’s bar focuses on
sweet treats that everyone knows and loves.
BERCO’S POPCORN
Everyone is familiar with the standard bag of
popcorn. But Berco’s Popcorn, located in Chicago,
Illinois, has gone far beyond standard. Their
locations boast a wide selection of flavors and
sizes of the delicious gourmet variety. And while a
popcorn store seems like a pretty low-cost option
for a snack, Berco’s has defied all expectation by
introducing, “Billion Dollar Popcorn” alongside their
more affordable varieties. Unsurprisingly given the
name, it’s sold a la carte, at $5 per kernel.
KELLOGGS CEREAL BARS Likely inspired by Cereal Killer Cafe in London’s
Shoreditch district, Kelloggs, everyone’s favorite
cereal company has started opening actual cereal
bars. Originally a cheap, bottom of the bin breakfast
staple, these popular bars are taking cereal to new
heights. When you go to the ‘Cereal Café’ you can
expect a ‘gourmet’ breakfast experience. A bowl of
cereal from the Kelloggs Ceral Bar will run you over
$7, but the memories it’s bound to stir up
are priceless.
MOMOFUKU MILK BAR David Chang, the highly successful chef and
restauranteur has given a facelift to a product
that has waned in popularity: milk. Unsurprisingly,
at his popular Milk Bar chain everything is milk
flavored. Along with milk, the main ingredient in
most of his cookies and cakes is corn flakes. When
you visit Milk Bar you can opt for a bottle of Cereal
Milk, or a milk flavored ice cream with corn flakes
on top.
Andrew Sacks-Hoppenfeld
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$1,00
0 ICE
CREA
M SU
NDAE
$100 G
OLD C
OVER
ED DO
NUTS
$5,00
0 BUR
GUER
The most expensive ice cream
in the world — a gold leaf
covered ice cream sundae from
Serendipity — will run you a
cool $1,000. However, if you’re
looking for instant gratification
look elsewhere, customers
must reserve this ridiculously
indulgent treat 48 hours
in advance.
Another gilded treat is next on
the list. At the Manila Social Club
in Miami, you can get a hand-
gilded 24k pure gold leaf donut
for only $100 or $1,200 for a
‘Golden Dozen.’ These donuts are
hand made with imported sweet
Ube yam from the Philippines,
Cristal champagne, and twice
dusted in gold leaf.
When you’re done at the poker
table you can roll the dice on
your health at Fleur Burger in
Las Vegas by ordering a burger
truly fit for a whale. The Fleur
Burger is constructed of wagyu
beef, foie gras and truffles, and
complimented by a 20 year old
bottle of wine. If the meat itself
doesn’t give you a good sweat, the
$5,000 bill certainly will.
$2,00
0 FRIT
ATTA
$1,00
0 PIZZ
ANorma’s is in the lobby of the
Parker Meridian Hotel in the
heart of NYC. Widely known for
their food and long lines, most
people are there for the brunch
offerings. However, a select
few come for something a bit
more indulgent, the notorious,
‘Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata.’
For $2,000, Norma’s dares you
to expense their caviar topped
lobster frittata.
Nino’s Bellissima Pizza is the
brainchild of Nino Slimaj a
restauranteur who was looking
to get some attention in the
oversaturated NYC pizza game.
He’s known for two things:
shamelessly marketing his
restaurants in any wild way
he can and the $1,000 pizza
pie. When he introduced the
new $1,000 pizza to the menu
he finally succeeded in getting
the attention he craved. Now,
customers flock to the restaurant
to order from his famously
balanced menu, which includes
options from the classic .99 cent
pizza to the $1,000 behemoth,
slathered in six different kinds of
caviar and a lobster.
CHEFS ROLLING OUT THE RED CARPET FOR LOW - END FOOD.
Whether you’re looking to impress that special date or test the overdraft notifications on your mobile banking app, the trend
in uber-expensive junk food and novelty dishes will provide you with many options. A quick browse through your discovery
tab in Instagram will reveal a number of food establishments taking a more high-end approach to customer acquisition.
Check out these five examples of chefs that are rolling out the red carpet for low-end food.
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Rapid innovation in food production has proven to be a double-edged sword. It seems the more we make, the more we waste.
THE ECONOMICS
OF WASTE
Markus Miklis
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In industrialized countries, more than 40% of losses/waste happen at retail and consumer levels.
Global quantitative food losses and waste per year are roughly 30% for cereals, 40-50% for root crops, fruits and vegetables, 20% for oil seeds, meat and dairy plus 35% for fish.
Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year— approximately 1.3 billion tons— gets lost or wasted.
The American food market generated $640,346m in
revenue in 2017, making it the leading food market
globally (Statista 2018) – ahead of even highly
populated countries like China, with more than
four times the US population. Partly due to new
farming innovations, global food production has
increased by 17% in the last 30 years (Forbes 2018).
While these numbers represent the achievements
of a globalized and industrialized world, there is
a downside to this massive uptick in production.
50% of the land (USDA 2018) and about 80% of
freshwater in the US is used exclusively for food
production, yet over 30% (133 billion pounds) of
the overall food produced for human consumption
is lost or wasted. (EPA 2018) The ramifications of
this statistic are far reaching: it represents a major
squandering of resources used in food production,
including water, land, energy, labor and capital.
The increase in resource-intensive production
techniques has also resulted in higher greenhouse
gas emissions that are a major contributor to
climate change.
Beginning with the production, harvest and
distribution stages, down to retail and final
household consumption, there is a disturbing
pattern developing in which inefficiency results
in needless and huge waste throughout the entire
supply chain. Some responsibility for this loss lies
with the growing agricultural industry, but a hefty
portion also lies with us, the consumer. Whether it’s
rejecting food for cosmetic reasons or shopkeepers
overloading shelves to entice customers, every level
of the chain holds some of the responsibility.
asted food is the pits. It’s one
of the most harmful and far
reaching trends in our modern
culture. If you care about climate
change, deforestation, water
extraction, biodiversity,
the economy or your own wallet,
you care about food waste.
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43Photo Credit: ChiccoDodiFC
Taking a step back from all this negativity and
looking ahead, we can clearly see that the world
of food production and mass consumption needs
to evolve. There are positive signs from initiatives
all over the world that are revolutionizing the food
supply-chain from production to consumption.
Food production: think globally, farm locally.The world has become a smaller place and
consumers have become accustomed to eating a
mind-bogglingly wide array of products, regardless
of season. Thankfully, the ‘local’ movement is
driving a number of solutions that aim to utilize
resources more effectively and reduce the pollution
brought on by large scale food transportation. One
example is the rise of nonprofit organizations like
Alaska Community Action on Toxics, who created
Yarducopia — a yardshare program that relies on
sharing economy principles. The program connects
landowners who lack the time to garden with
would-be gardeners lacking the land necessary
to cultivate food. Produce is shared between the
homeowner and the volunteer, and 10% is donated
to a charity of their choice.
Another encouraging production trend is taking
root in a decidedly more urban neighborhood,
taking advantage of undesirable, vacant property
to cultivate food locally. Using free urban land
for agricultural purposes is just the first step in
improving the food system and making it more
community based. City councils across the US are
increasingly aware of cultivated gardens possessing
fruit trees that are neglected. These are places
where fruit goes unharvested and is left to rot.
For example, the City Food Policy Council of Salt
Lake City partnered with the Green Urban Lunch
Box (GULB) organization to tackle the problem
of spoiled and unharvested fruits, by starting the
FruitShare program. Staff and volunteers of GULB
are helping homeowners prune trees and harvest
fruit to avoid waste and the loss of perfectly good
food. In 2016 the FruitShare program harvested
125,000 pounds of fruit which they distributed to
homeowners and local food assistance programs.
Though local food production in urban areas is
no mass revolution, it offers a hopeful signal and
suggests a growing awareness of the problem
in society. Programs that match unused land
with volunteers build social capital throughout
communities, remove barriers to healthy food and
improve the lives of everyone involved.
Food distribution: Dumpster divine.We’ve all heard of bakeries throwing out perfectly
good bread, and have perhaps seen dumpsters full
of edible food at the rear of large supermarkets,
but is it time we begin to consider our part in
that cycle of waste? In industrialized countries
about 40% of food waste occurs at the retail and
consumption stages. This is partly due to the high
‘appearance quality standards’ regarding weight,
size, shape and look of produce. It is further
compounded by an increase over the last decade
in the amount of food available for purchase in all
industrialized countries.
Consumers expect to see fully stacked shelves.
Often perfectly edible products are discarded
when they reach their sell-by dates. Now, due to
the popularity of discount supermarkets it is easier
and more ‘affordable’ to let food ‘get lost’ – at least
financially speaking.
A recent report by the Wallace Center at
Winrock International, summarizes the scale
of the challenge: “Despite its productivity,
the conventional food system in the United
States is fraught with inequity, negative
environmental impacts and threats to
human health” (CommunityFood 2018).
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Fortunately, there are many initiatives to prevent
and reduce food waste. Berlin-based shop ‘original
unverpackt’ (translates to ‘orginally unpackaged’)
opened in 2014 stocking food in an old-fashioned
way: instead of mutiple brands fighting for
attention, the store features far fewer choices — for
example only two choices of rice are on offer. This
is paired with a bulk shopping experience where
customers must bring their own containers to carry
food home. The initial goal was to reduce waste
generated by food packaging — but it ended up
helping to avoid overly stacked shelves and ‘taught’
consumers to be make decisions more consciously
(NY Times 2018). In the last few years operations like
this have started to appear in many countries.
Learning to love waste.It’s not just the little guys making a difference:
nations and trade associations have recognized the
problem too. The U.S Department of Agriculture
and the Environmental Protection Agency launched
the, “U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions,”
where businesses and organizations aim to reduce
their own food loss and waste by 50% by the year
2030 (EPA 2018).
Three leading food industry bodies — the Grocery
Manufacturers Association (representing food and
beverage companies), the Food Marketing Institute
(representing food retailers), and the National
Restaurant Association (representing the food
service industry) — are partnering to form the,
“Food Waste Reduction Alliance.”
Alliance members reduce food waste within their
own operations and support programs such as,
“Reducing Consumer Confusion on Product Date
Labels” by simplifying the labeling procedure.
The current range of date labels creates much
confusion. Consumer are faced with sell-by
dates, use-by dates, expires-on labels, best-before
instructions and best-by dates. It’s no surprise
many people play it safe and discard food
prematurely (EPA 2018).
Food-recycling is another way to reduce waste.
In June 2017, west-coast retailer Salt & Straw
sought to raise awareness of food waste by
launching their ‘Rescued Food’ ice cream range.
The ice cream shop partnered with local non-
profit organizations who supplied them with food
collected from restaurants, grocery stores and
markets, while still fit to eat.
Salt & Straw chose to pay full market price for this
unconventional source of ingredients in order to
prove the economic value of surplus food.
Using this ‘rescued food’ they created new
ice cream flavors including whey-preserved
strawberry ice cream and Banana Bread Pudding
ice cream.
France takes food waste even more seriously,
becoming the first country in the world to forbid
food waste by supermarkets. Recently introduced
legislation compels French supermarkets to
donate unsold, edible food to charities and
food banks.
French supermarket chain, “Carrefour” not only
donates unsold food to charities but creates
additional value by transforming damaged and
inedible produce into biofuel that powers the
supermarket’s trucks.
As yet such innovations are scattered and
relatively small in scale. However the threat
of regulation looms and may prompt more
businesses to take action in the hope of avoiding
the imposition of legislation. And while industry
is traditionally resistant to regulation, it is
much more responsive to consumer preference
and pressure.
Consumers ultimately hold the power to demand
more responsibly sourced and produced
products. And the signs suggest we’re increasingly
favoring brands placing an emphasis on
sustainability. So go ahead, grow those beans
in a neighbor’s yard, eat tomatoes from the
garden of your local playground, and pick up that
misshapen apple.
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We are a transformation business.Magpie is published by BrandPie. We are a global transformation business that uses the power of purpose to help clients transform their brands, cultures, strategies and business models. Transformation breeds new kinds of organizations. We combine the smarts of a strategic consultancy with the impact of a world-class creative agency.
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