U.S. Market for Flavors

U.S. Market for Flavors

Bold. Exotic. Healthy. Tangy. Natural.

These of just some of the traits that best describe the kinds of flavors Americans seek when shopping or eating out today. It’s not good enough to be fast and fresh – the food also needs a strong boost of flavor, enough to awake and tantalize the taste buds.

Consider the popularity of the Vietnamese hot sauce srirach, the growing ubiquity of lime flavor or the increasing presence of tomatillo in snacks and sauces. Or, look at unexpected pairings of herbs and spices, like vanilla-cardamom, or cilantro-basil, that are bolstering sauces or desserts.

But Americans still want to be healthy. It’s not enough to avoid just fat and salt; instead, we’re wary of foods that come with a long list of ingredients, artificial flavors and artificial additives. And herein lies a big opportunity for the food industry – transitioning food products to recognizable and natural ingredients, including natural flavors and spices/herbs. Shortening ingredient lists and substituting artificial and unrecognizable ingredients with natural or recognizable ingredients continues to be a winning strategy for many packaged food manufacturers.

But changing tastes and preferences poses a challenge for packaged food marketers. Natural ingredients and food additives often impart their own, unexpected flavors and properties to foods. Natural flavors also tend to suffer from limited shelf stability. As a result, many packaged food products recipes must be completely reformulated when transitioning to clean label. This transition continues to drive substantial scientific and market development in the flavor industry. Companies that have positioned to take advantage of the clean label transition have fared well, and many have done extremely well, posting low to mid double-digit growth in recent years. Other key trends include:

• Strong interest in natural, non-calorific sugar replacers; out of fashion are the pink, blue and yellow packets we know.
• New innovations that advance flavor development: for example, new encapsulation techniques that allow carefully controlled flavor modulation
• Exciting new natural lines of flavor enhancers aimed at umami and sweet flavors, designed to replace MSG, or to reduce sugar, respectively
• Meaningful shifts in U.S. spice markets as the U.S. economy continues to recover in the wake of the global economic turndown
• Moderate to strong growth for flavors in some food product categories, and stagnation or even decline in others

Scope and Methodology

U.S. Market for Flavors evaluates the existing size and anticipated future growth of the U.S. flavors market, with breakdowns for the following categories of flavors: flavor additives, flavor enhancers, sugar substitutes, and spices (including herbs). Markets and market growth potential are evaluated for up to 12 categories of common center store food categories based on data for mass-market channels, corporate earnings reports, and other available data, combined with market trends and growth factors discussed above and within the report.

This report will help:

• Flavor manufacturers to identify key areas of market growth, stagnancy, and even contraction through 2020;
• Flavor researchers and developers to understand the direction of the overall flavors market in order to help plan and guide future R&D activities and innovations that will lead to successful commercialization;
• Marketing managers to understand food industry and consumer trends and how those trends bear on flavors markets;
• Industry insiders to identify major industry trends and also competitor initiatives in order to stay up to date in their field;
• Advertising agencies within the flavor industry to better understand consumers and develop messages and images that support consumer purchase;
• Business development executives to understand the changing flavors market and anticipated future market developments, and to identify new competitors and potential partnerships;
• Flavor industry managers and execs to understand potential for regulatory change in order to adapt to an uncertain regulatory future and stay ahead of competition in addressing likely regulatory changes.