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Focusing on Sustainability in Your Food Startup

Over the last few years, a slow but steady shift has taken place when it comes to requests from our food startup consulting clients. While they are still interested in us helping them create a profitable food and beverage business, an increasing number of clients began asking for suggestions on more ways to build a more sustainable and environmentally friendly company. 

This client-led push for highlighting sustainability was a bit of a surprise at first, but when you look at the data, it makes perfect sense. Study after study shows that companies that adopt an earth-friendly approach to their business practices do not only contribute to a greener and healthier planet but find a receptive customer base that is more than willing to reward them financially.

Here are the facts:

  • According to two First Insight surveys quoted on MEAT+POULTRY, over two-thirds of consumers are willing to pay more for food products that they identify as sustainable. From the same surveys, many customers actively choose brands that actively reduce their carbon emissions, reduce food waste, and support environmental issues. 
  • Concern about sustainability came late to the food and beverage industry, but it is rapidly growing. Especially in light of recent events surrounding the pandemic, restaurants and wholesale food producers are starting to do more than ever to address critical issues within the industry. These changes include investing more heavily in green business practices and adapting how they run their businesses day-to-day. 

What Can a Food Startup Do Now to Increase and Profit From Sustainability?

Whether you are planning, building out, or have already opened your food startup, there are plenty of small, easy-to-implement ideas that can provide you with huge returns at little risk. See if you can find ways to incorporate these sustainability ideas into your business:

  • Plant-based food is in, and customers are eating it up. While less than 1 in 5 people consider themselves vegetarians or vegans, a growing number of folks are choosing to adopt a ‘flexitarian’ diet. Flexitarians most often choose to eat meat-free; they occasionally indulge in animal products. By adding at least a few plant-based menu items, you can help capture a market experts predict will grow to $162 billion by 2030.
  • Location. location, location. When it comes to food, consumers are becoming better educated about food production and its impact on the supply chain. Generic “farm-raised” products are no longer enough to sway the consumers. Customers now want high-quality, ethically raised local products, and they are willing to pay more for them. Shouldn’t you get your share by using and promoting local ingredients?
  • Cut food waste. It isn’t all about what the customer can see. Some of the best reasons for focusing on sustainability in your startup are behind the scenes. According to one report, restaurants throw away a half-pound of food for every meal they serve to their guests. Save money, and go green by practicing proper inventory controls and ordering procedures. With food costs continuing to climb, reducing waste is more important than ever before. 

A Food Startup Consulting Firm Makes Everything Much Easier

There is no question that your food startup should focus on sustainability. The only issue is how you can do it effectively. Food startup consultants The Greater Goods can provide you with an actionable plan to help.

The Benefits of Social Media as a Marketing Tool for Your Food Business

Love it or hate it, it’s hard to escape the influence of social media these days. It seems like people are always talking about the latest thing they saw on TikTok, Instagram, or one of the other most popular platforms. And it’s a lot of people talking, as there are expected to be almost 4 billion social media users globally in 2022.

This is exactly why an increasing number of businesses are realizing social media’s potential as a marketing tool. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of such a large, vocal audience? An active social media presence can do wonders for all types of businesses, including those in the food industry.

Don’t believe me? Here are the benefits of social media as a marketing tool for your food business.

You Can Reach a Wider Audience

A lot of traditional marketing methods, like print ads, radio, and flyers can only reach so many customers. If you really want your food business to break out of your local area, you need to find a way to reach the masses. And what has a more massive audience than the most popular social media platforms?

If you really want to cast a wide net, then you need to fill your page with shareable content. This is interesting, unique content that people may want to share with others. If some of your current customers find your account and share your posts with their followers, you may be able to reach all kinds of new potential customers.

It Allows You to Engage with Your Customers

It can be difficult to find opportunities to interact with your audience, especially in the food business. Unless you are selling to customers directly, you may not have the chance to really talk with them and get feedback about your products. However, this is exactly what you can do with social media.

Social media allows businesses and customers to communicate with each other like they never have before. Customers can leave posts on a business’ page or message them directly to ask questions, voice concerns, and provide feedback about their products. Brands can then directly respond to these messages and personally interact with each individual, which can help build a loyal customer base.

It’s Affordable

When you’re first starting out in the food business, it can be challenging to get your brand off the ground. You don’t usually have a huge marketing budget like some of the more established brands, so it can be difficult to really make a splash using traditional marketing methods. This is one of the nicest benefits of using social media as a marketing tool: its low cost.

In fact, you can easily get started with a free account on many of the most popular social media platforms. Simply navigate to your platform of choice, create a profile for your food business, and start posting! You may eventually want to opt for some premium features, but a free account is really all you need to start getting your brand out there.

Looking for another way to grow your business? Request a free consultation with the greater goods today to discuss your options.

Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Market Opportunity

People come up with new and exciting food products every single day. They think about consumer needs, identify a potential product to fill those needs, and then start putting in the work to try and get it into the hands of consumers. 

However, no matter how much confidence these people may have in their product, they may end up finding that it’s not exactly flying off the shelves. This may leave them wondering: “Did we miss something?”

Yes – a market opportunity assessment. If you really want to make sure your food product is going to be well-received by consumers, then you simply cannot skip this step. It’s especially important if you’re looking to attract investors and food brokers, as they often like to see that you have a solid marketing strategy to help ensure the success of your product.

Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to get started with an assessment. Here are some questions to ask yourself about your market opportunity.

Why Sell this Product?

This is probably one of the most important questions to ask yourself. What is the point of selling this product? What problem are you helping consumers solve? Are you doing it differently than the competition? You need to be able to show that there is a demand for this particular kind of product, especially if you require investors.

For example, let’s say you’ve come up with a new kind of fruit snack. There are lots of different kinds of fruit snacks on the market, so what makes yours different? What problem does it solve? Are they healthier than similar products? Identify what makes yours unique and how that helps the consumer.

Who is the Target Audience?

So, let’s say you’ve determined that you are fulfilling a need with your healthy fruit snacks. Now you have to think about the buyers. Who needs healthy fruit snacks? Should you market them toward parents or the kids themselves? Or are they for adults looking to satisfy their sweet tooth in a healthier way? Coming up with a detailed profile of your target audience can help you figure out your potential sales volume. If you find that this number is significantly less than what you were anticipating, you may want to rethink your product.

How Are You Going to Sell the Product?

A detailed profile of your buyers is likely going to be quite helpful when determining how to sell your product. It can help you come up with branding, pricing, and marketing strategies.

For example, let’s say you’ve decided that kids are your target audience. You may choose to go with brightly coloured packaging and/or a cartoon theme to catch their attention. You may also want to make it more affordable so parents are less likely to think twice about throwing it into their cart. Figure out the best way to attract your ideal buyer and get it into their hands.

The Professional Touch

If you’re not confident about your ability to perform an accurate and complete market opportunity assessment, then you should consider hiring a professional. Book a free consultation with the greater goods today to get going on your assessment and turn it into a fully realized food marketing strategy!

Is a Food Truck a Good Idea?

Do you love to cook and have a few delicious recipes under your belt, but don’t have the budget or desire to open up a full restaurant?

Then you may be a great candidate for the food truck industry! It’s certainly a good time to invest in this type of business, as the global food truck market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 6.8% until 2028.

So, the demand may be there, but is opening up a food truck a good idea in your case? Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons so you can decide for yourself.

Pro: You’re the Boss

Many people can only dream about being their own boss, but you get to do just that running your own food truck. You get to decide on the menu, hours, location, ingredients…everything is under your control!

Con: You’re the Boss

While it may sound nice on paper, being your own boss isn’t for everyone. Since everything is under your control, you must be willing to put in long hours to ensure that you’re giving enough attention to every area of your business. 

You don’t have anyone guaranteeing you a certain amount of money for your time either. Therefore, if you have an especially slow day, you may not be able to take home much of a profit.

Pro: Less Startup Costs

It can be significantly less expensive to own and run a food truck than your standard brick-and-mortar restaurant. Rent and utilities alone can cost you an arm and a leg, and then there’s the kitchen equipment, tables and chairs, staff…the list goes on.

With a food truck, on the other hand, the main startup cost is the vehicle. Your operational costs are then mostly limited to gas, food, supplies, and perhaps wages for an employee or two. A smaller space requires a smaller investment, making a food truck a great option for an aspiring chef on a budget.

Con: You’re Stuck in a Small, Cramped Space

A food truck isn’t just small – it can also be quite cramped. Once you add in all the kitchen equipment, a POS system, and your ingredients, you may not have much room to move around inside. If you don’t do well in confined spaces, working in a food truck may not be an ideal fit.

Pro: There’s Lots of Opportunity

Working out of a food truck offers lots of flexibility in terms of operating hours and location, so it’s important to use this to your advantage. For example, you could set up shop outside of a stadium when there’s an event going on to take advantage of the crowd coming or going, or park outside of large companies during lunch time.

Con: There’s Lots of Competition

Since the startup costs are low and there’s a demand for quick and convenient meals these days, the food truck industry can be a rather competitive one. Therefore, if you don’t have a unique, in-demand menu for your business, you may have a tough time finding success.

Why Food Traceability is More Important Now than Ever

If there’s a problem with the food item or items that your company makes or distributes, will you be able to quickly identify the issue so you can mitigate as much damage as possible? Food recalls cost companies tens of billions of dollars each year and can hurt a firm’s reputation and profit if there isn’t a fast and satisfying solution for consumers. And a company can spend even more money and invest even more time trying to repair this damage and rebuild trust with consumers.

A food industry consultant can help with food traceability efforts, and in this post, we’ll further discuss what you need to know about traceability and why it’s arguably more important now than ever. Here’s a look:

3 Reasons Why Food Traceability is Key

Wondering why food traceability is so important today? Here are three reasons:

1. Safety Reasons

Perhaps the No. 1 reason to implement high-quality food traceability solutions today is for the safety of the consumers who will be eating the items your company produces. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it’s estimated that as many as 600 million people worldwide will get sick from eating contaminated food each year. The bottom line is that manufacturers should know where the ingredients they’re sourcing are coming from, especially when there are so many moving parts these days in the global food supply chain. Keeping close tabs on your ingredients and where they’re coming from can help quickly identify problems and mitigate illness as well as reputational damage.

2. Fast Identification

To piggyback off the above point, the global food supply chain is very complex – with ingredients often sourced from all over the world. With so many moving parts, it’s imperative to quickly identify when issues arise and where they arise in the supply chain to mitigate as much damage as possible. More traceability means more visibility into the supply chain, which can help with preparedness and initiate a faster response.

Fast identification is key to recovery as well. It can help mount a viable response from all stakeholders involved.

3. Stay Compliant With Industry Standards

Finally, there are various governing bodies that food companies must stay compliant with. If issues arise and it’s discovered that companies were not in compliance with various industry standards or regulations, the problem can become even more exacerbated.

Why You Need a Food Industry Consultant

Like we said in the intro, one of the ways your firm can improve traceability is by working with a credible food industry consultant. Not only can such a consultant help bring companies better profits and cost savings, but they can also work to significantly improve food traceability efforts. And if something still were to go wrong, they can help your company mount a response that will mitigate damage and help you regain trust with consumers. For more information on the importance of food traceability and to work with a food consultant that can help you improve profitability and accountability, contact us today.

5 Profitable Food Business Ideas to Start in 2022

The food industry is booming. There are more restaurants than ever before, and even though many people are cooking for themselves, there’s still plenty of room to grow in this sector. In 2022, as people begin to visit restaurants more and start eating out again, there will be more food business opportunities than ever before. Here are 5 ideas that will help you get started on the right foot with your own food business!

  • Food trucks: this is a great way to get started in the food industry. You can operate out of your own kitchen and still make money, while saving up for the capital investment needed to start a restaurant or brick and mortar business. Don’t let people tell you that it’s too hard – just look at all those successful food truck operators out there!

  • Meal delivery service: this is another great way to get started, especially if you’re planning on growing your food business slowly. People are more likely to order in than go out for dinner these days, but it’s still an untapped market with room to grow massively over the next few years. Just look at companies like HelloFresh and Blue Apron, who are already raking in the benefits.

  • Fast-casual restaurant: this is a great choice for any food business entrepreneur looking to grow their company slowly but surely over time. Not only does it have all the perks of being part of the fast-food industry (with better ingredients), but you can also charge more than fast-food chains. This allows you to build a loyal customer base, which can help you grow your company’s success exponentially over time!

  • Food carts: these are great for launching any new business idea because they’re usually smaller and less expensive to run. That means that there is lower risk involved in starting one up – something every entrepreneur needs. And, since they’re so popular these days, there’s a good chance that your food cart will be successful no matter where you set it up!

  • Event catering: this is another great way to get started in the food business without having to invest too much money upfront. Plus, as the name suggests, it’s perfect for catering events! This is a great way to get your name out there and start building a customer base.

Eating at Home Vs. Eating Out

There are options on this list for food businesses catering to customers eating at home, and others for which you can open a mobile or permanent establishment. There will be a push and pull between food businesses in the coming year as businesses figure out how to reach customers in both places.

No matter what, there will always be a demand for quality food. Customers are no longer content with eating fast food or microwaved meals – they want something that tastes good and is healthy for them. This is where you come in as a food business entrepreneur! Offer quality, affordable food to your customers, and you’ll be sure to see success in the years ahead.

If you’ve got a food business idea that needs some help, send us a message! We are here to help!

Leveraging Technology to Stay Up-To-Date with Food Industry Trends

Food industry trends are always evolving. As a professional in the food industry, you know how important it is to stay abreast of market changes. But sometimes, remaining updated isn’t enough. Keeping up with changes in the food industry needs to also include embracing new technologies. This will help you plan ahead and develop your firm.

As an example, the following are three food and beverage sector trends happening right now, as well as how technology could play a part in helping your company come out on top.

1. Employment Trends

Accounting and food manufacturing experts predict that up to 4.6 million industrial positions may go vacant in the next decade. The reasons for this are myriad. It’s a perfect storm of an aging population, pandemic conditions and difficulty with communicating to younger generations the benefits of working in the food industry.

This projection is alarming for food producers and processors who rely on specially trained workers for production, manufacturing, inventory management and shipping. It’s never been more critical for food firms to future-proof their operations in an industry with razor-thin margins and rising manufacturing costs.

Companies that rely on antiquated systems or spreadsheets to operate their operations risk losing valuable information when staff depart and jobs go vacant for long periods of time.

Utilizing specialty technology that has been developed for the food sector, all production, manufacturing, finance, purchasing, sales, and inventory data is stored within the company’s system, so no data is lost as people leave. Therefore, training new employees on a user-friendly, simplified solution reduces onboarding time, resulting in increased productivity and overall business development.

2. Global Commerce Using a Food Industry Consultant

Global commerce has never been more important in the food industry. It’s no wonder that the food business is feeling a great deal of anxiety as supply chains are being disrupted. These rapid market shifts, along with newly-imposed rules and taxes, make it difficult for food producers and processors to predict industry patterns and rely on demand-driven production. This volatility makes it difficult for food businesses reliant on overseas commerce to plan and budget.

It’s never been more critical for food firms to have access to local inventory, financial, and production data. The end-to-end visibility that a technological solution provides allows food makers and processors to effectively handle market unpredictability and respond swiftly to changing requirements, laws, and customer expectations.

Using a food industry consultant, food businesses can manage pricing and remain competitive in a volatile market. A food industry consultant can also leverage technology on behalf of the food business to help with yield management, catch-weight analysis, and keep a handle on production pricing, which can also help a food business to keep costs competitive.

3. Accountability

Tracing materials and ingredients throughout the supply chain from start to finish are still major trends in the food business. “Local” and “ethically grown” have always been difficulties for huge producers and processors that struggle to connect with end consumers and reinforce authenticity claims. Transparency and front-facing traceability provide consumers with confidence in a brand’s authenticity and security.

A food industry consultant can help to come up with tailored solutions for food business professionals, offering the information they need to comply with food safety requirements. This enables food manufacturers and processors to have complete tracing and transparency in all steps of the supply chain.

Keeping up with new and developing trends is critical for food makers and producers trying to expand. Food industry consultants play a major role in staying up to date as well as harnessing the latest technologies to help your food business thrive in any market.

Steps to Becoming a Food Broker

If you’ve been looking to make a move into the food industry lately, then perhaps you’d be interested in a food broker position. A food broker is a sales professional who specializes in helping food manufacturers get their product on store shelves. They use their business contacts and experience in the industry to make sure that manufacturers are getting a fair price for their product, and that it is being promoted properly in stores.

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? It gets even better – the average food broker’s gross salary in Canada is almost $77,000 a year!

Ah, now we’ve got your attention! Before you start applying, though, it’s important to make sure you have the correct qualifications and experience for the job. Keep reading to learn about the steps to becoming a food broker.

Step 1: Earn Your High School Diploma

Most food brokers start their journey by graduating from high school. While this isn’t necessarily a highly technical field, it is helpful to have some basic education if you want to be successful.

It’s also not a bad idea for prospective food brokers to start getting some experience under their belt during this time. Many grocery stores will hire high school students on a part-time basis, so this would be a good place to start learning about the industry.

Step 2: Get a Bachelor’s Degree in a Related Field

While post-secondary education isn’t technically a requirement, it can certainly help you stand out in a competitive industry. If you do decide to go this route, try and choose a field that would be useful in a food broker position. 

For example, a bachelor’s degree in agriculture or food science may help you understand more about the food production process. On the other hand, you could also go for something like finance or business. These may be helpful in your future negotiations with wholesale and retail stores.

Step 3: Obtain Certifications (If Required)

You may be required to obtain certifications in order to become a food broker in your area. Now, these requirements can vary considerably depending on where you live, so get in touch with your local health department to learn more. 

Step 4: Get Some Experience

While having the right education and certifications are important, having the right experience can be extremely valuable for a food broker. In fact, having strong person-to-person sales skills is practically essential to finding success in this type of position.

If you don’t already have considerable skills in this area, then you may want to look into some entry-level sales jobs before applying at a food brokerage. While a lot of food brokers work independently, it is extremely helpful to build up connections through a brokerage before attempting to make it on your own.

Step 5: Earn Money

Even though you don’t necessarily need to have a bachelor’s degree or a ton of experience, these things will almost certainly help you out when it comes to making money. Food brokers typically work on commission, so your annual income is directly dependent on your ability to obtain clients and make sales.

What Does it Mean to be a B Corp Product?

There seems to have been an increased focus on environmental and social issues within the last few years, and consumers have begun to take note. As a result, they demand more from today’s businesses on these topics, in terms of taking accountability for their negative contributions and changing their practices for the better. There’s a reason why the positive social and environmental efforts of businesses tend to be so heavily advertised on their products these days – consumers want to hear it!

One way that some companies can advertise their positive impact is by sticking a “Certified B Corporation” label on their products. The only problem is, not every consumer knows what that means.

What is a Certified B Corporation?

In short, a Certified B Corporation is a designation given by B Lab, a nonprofit organization, to businesses that demonstrate high levels of social and environmental responsibility, transparency, and accountability for their impact on all stakeholders, not just shareholders.  Unlike a lot of businesses, B Corps aren’t only focused on profits, but on the triple bottom line: profit, people, and the planet.

How Can I Tell if Something is a B Corp Product?

If you want to support socially and environmentally-conscious organizations, then look for B Corp products. These products will be labelled with a “Certified B Corporation” symbol that looks like a capital B in a circle with a line underneath.

How Does a Business Become a Certified B Corp?

The exact route that companies must take to become Certified B Corps depends on their size and complexity, at least to an extent, but they all basically follow a similar process to achieve certification. You can check out the detailed 15-step process here, but if you’d rather not get too bogged down in the details, it can generally be summarized into the following 3 steps:

1) Demonstrate How Their Business Can Be Used for Good

As previously mentioned, if a company is chasing a B Corp certification, their bottom line has to be about more than just profits. They must also believe that their company is contributing some kind of good to the world, making it more environmentally friendly and inclusive to everyone. They should be able to clearly articulate their social and environmental goals, be accountable to all stakeholders, and be managed transparently in a way that allows B Lab to monitor their performance publicly on their website.

2) Take the B Impact Assessment

If the business feels as if they meet the requirements for B Corp certification, then the next step would be to take the free, confidential online assessment. The full assessment takes about 2-3 hours to complete, and gives a business access to its “B score”, which needs to be at least 80/200 in order to be eligible for B Corp certification.

3) Change Articles of Incorporation

The final step is for a company to change its articles of incorporation to reflect its commitment to the greater good. They have one year to do this after certification to show that these beliefs are really a part of their organization, and not just a good PR move.

Food Industry Consultant Meeting with Restaurant Managers

How to Start an Online Food Business: The Ultimate Guide

If you’re interested in starting an online food business, you couldn’t ask for a better time in history. Online food sales offer extremely lucrative opportunities for growth. With the strong digital infrastructure all over the world as well as intense consumer interest in purchasing food online, the sky’s the limit as far as online food sales go. So, whether you are thinking about a subscription-based online food business or straight sales, here is the ultimate guide to getting started.

Identify Your Niche

Supply and demand has to be your first decision. You want to sell what customers are looking for, while staying within your area of expertise. This will include identifying what you are good at. Are you interested in selling jars of your grandmother’s secret recipe for strawberry jam? That’s a good niche, as long as there’s consumer demand for strawberry jam. Are you looking to sell dehydrated goods for survivalists? That’s a strong niche product right now in these uncertain times. But are you knowledgeable about dehydrated foods and how to safely produce and package them? You see, there needs to be a connection between what you know and consumer demand. That is where you will find your niche.

Define Your Target Consumer

Once you find your niche, you need to know who your target consumer is. If you’ve chosen dehydrated foods, for instance, you already know that your main consumer will be homesteaders and survivalists. But what do you really know about these consumers beyond that? You should build a consumer profile. Figure out how they think, where they shop and what informs their buying decisions. Learn where they hang out online, how much food they typically buy online and what brands they are attracted to. All of this will inform your marketing and advertising choices.

Get Licensed

You’ll need to be a licensed business owner in order to sell food online. The licenses and permits that you need to operated will be determined by where you live. Make sure you set up your online food business properly for local, state and federal taxes, too. You will also need to consider how to charge sales tax to your customers depending upon what state they live in.

Source Ingredients With Food Startup Consulting

Supply chain issues can affect all-sized businesses. Issues like this can bring your online food business to a grinding halt, so you want to avoid this problem. In the beginning, experts in the food startup consulting business advise to buy local. Find wholesale food suppliers nearby that you can either travel to directly or have transported with minimal interruption. Later on, as you grow, you can consider sourcing ingredients farther afield.

Outsource What You Don’t Know

You’ll need to conduct ample research to get started in the online food sales business. Still, you won’t be able to learn everything, this is where you need to hire a food startup consultant. A food startup consultant can help you with everything from finding your niche to advising you on packaging materials and styling to sourcing ingredients. You can avoid a lot of missteps by relying on a food startup consultant.

There are a lot of steps involved in starting an online food business. But there’s never been a better time to get started. Give us a call today to learn more about how we can help you build a successful online food business.

2022 Food Trends to Watch Out For

While the panic over COVID-19 seems to be waning slightly thanks to the vaccines, the effects of it can still be seen throughout all kinds of industries, including those involving food. Like it or not, the pandemic has helped shape our food choices within the last few years, and this trend will likely continue into 2022.

Don’t worry, though – 2022 isn’t going to be the year of the junky, comfort foods that we may have relied on back in the early days of the pandemic. Expect to see more nutritious foods, non-alcoholic cocktails and spirits, and plant-based options on the menu in 2022, perfect for a new year, a new outlook, and a new focus on keeping ourselves happy and healthy.

Check out the 2022 food trends to watch out for below.

Reducetarianism

Although you may be unfamiliar with the term, you’ve likely heard something about the concept. Reducetarians are those who are mindfully decreasing their consumption of animal products but aren’t ready to go full vegetarian or vegan. There isn’t necessarily one specific reason why more people are choosing reducetarianism, but a growing awareness of environmental concerns and animal welfare may certainly be contributing to the decision.

Along with more of an emphasis on plant-based foods, the reducetarian diet also means that there will be an increasing demand for high-quality eggs, meat, and dairy in 2022. Since reducetarians are only eating so much meat, they seem to be choosing quality over quantity when it comes to their animal-based products.

Standardizing Plant-Based Menu Options

Though vegetarian and vegan diets are nothing new, the growing movement of diets like reducetarianism suggests that an increasing number of restaurants and shops will be offering more plant-based menu options in 2022. You can already see this trend starting to take off in 2021, for example with many coffee shops suddenly offering plant-based milk options that were just not on the menu before.

What’s more, in 2022 it’s no longer going to be a nice surprise when your favorite places offer these plant-based alternatives – it’s going to become the standard. Businesses that currently don’t have these options on their menus should take note.

Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds have always been around in the form of a popular peanut butter alternative for those with nut allergies. However, in 2022 you can expect to see a lot more of them in other kinds of foods, increasing their appeal to a wider audience.

Be on the lookout for sunflower seed crackers, cheese, ice cream, protein bars, and even more in the upcoming year. Sunflower seed lovers rejoice!

Non-Alcoholic Cocktails and Spirits

Mocktails are already having a moment in 2021 with the success of booze-free bars, and this trend is likely to continue into 2022. There is even increasing demand for non-alcoholic spirits such as zero-proof whiskey and alcohol-free bitters.

Again, it’s hard to say exactly why non-alcoholic cocktails and spirits are starting to take off, but it could simply be an attempt to make up for heavy drinking during the pandemic, or a growing awareness of the effects of alcohol on the body. Either way, look for more opportunities to take advantage of this trend in 2022.

How Does a Food Packaging Consultant Work?

Consultations on food packaging and associated services are provided by skilled professionals. They help to satisfy client needs and are trained to deliver quality services on time. If you’re working in the food industry or looking to start a business in the food industry, your first step should be to work with a food packaging consultant. Listed below are some of the common advantages to this partnership.

A Food Packaging Consultant Offers Extensive Expertise

In the area of food packaging, handling, production, and distribution, you can’t find a more qualified expert than a food packaging consultant. Clients can benefit from customized packaging ideas, plus a wide range of other services. Food packaging consultants leverage talent, tools, and technology to address the high demands of the food industry.

Efficient Partnership

A quality food packaging consultant helps the organization deliver efficiently, thereby increasing productivity. They help plan, develop, and implement packaging. They also train workers to deliver services efficiently. In addition, they have qualified staff to assist with consumer requirements.

How a Food Packaging Consultant Works

Customer Service

The food packaging consultant strives to provide great customer service at every level. They are happy to help and make their clients feel welcome. Their professionalism, good quality work and pleasant demeanor works in the company’s favor to maximize profits. So the firm gets good outcomes, plus happy consumers.

Food Product Knowledge

A food packaging consultant is considered an expert in food packaging and production procedures. So they can advise them on the best packing options. They can readily assess the product’s consumption, shelf life, sanitary conditions and other impactful variables.

Effective Communication

Food packaging consultants help the organization grow its audience and revenues through effective communication. This results in high levels of consumer satisfaction and loyalty. Their long-term ties with peers and referrals help the organization grow. So the firm grows exponentially with minimal costs.

Specialized Services Available

Food packaging consultancy services are very specialized. There are many more specialized sectors, such as packaging technology, food storage, warehouse and distribution, etc. Thus, food packing consulting services meet all food company’s needs.

The Role of a Food Packaging Consultant Expert

A food packaging consultant’s job description is flexible. A food packaging consultant might be self-employed or part of a team. They can also work as independent consultants or for an organization that contracts them for food packing activities. Some food packaging consultants operate on a contract basis. Assumes knowledge of the company’s food packaging requirements, develops and implements food packaging strategies, evaluates food packaging effectiveness, and monitors quality control to ensure all standards are satisfied.

Food packaging consultancy necessitates expertise. It necessitates extensive understanding of food science, microbiology and nutrition. It also takes business acumen. Their performance should be good. They must also be able to communicate effectively and listen closely to consumers.

They must know everything about food as food packagers. They must know how to properly store raw ingredients and ensure that all packaged items are ready before leaving the warehouse. They must also know how to find dependable manufacturers and suppliers of food components, how to choose efficient transport and packing equipment, how to keep track of corporate information such as pricing, inventories, and supplies, and how to maintain quality control records.

The absolute best chances for your food business success are in working with a quality food packaging consultant. All the major brands do, and if you want to grow your food business as much as possible, that’s what you should be doing, too! Please feel free to contact us for more information.