Food consciousness is changing the market
In the past few months, Tyson Foods set a deadline to eliminate human antibiotics from its production of chicken. Kraft Foods Group is changing their macaroni and cheese recipe and moving to natural spices. Pepsi will stop using aspartame in its diet sodas. Even McDonalds is getting into healthier food, considering new items that may include kale.
Mondelez International, maker of Triscuit crackers, Cadbury chocolate, and Oreo cookies, just made the announcement that they too intend to increase healthier offerings in their product line. This is to boost sales in light of consumers who are eating less processed foods made without artificial colors and preservatives. Mondelez also wants to increase their Ecommerce business over the next few years.
Millennials playing a role in the “healtification” of brands
Most packaged food companies are facing sluggish growth in today’s economy. This is most likely due to millennials, who are demanding healthier food options. This generation cares about where their food comes from and what ingredients go into it. It’s estimated that there are more than 80 million millennials, which makes them the biggest generation.
Corporations have to pay attention to what millennials want or lose market shares as they find different options.
Even Oreos have to change these days
Millennials will pay more for sustainable or organic products that meet their high demands. They are extremely concerned about genetically modified food products and inhumane production methods. Cage-free eggs and free-range meats are important to this generation. Just a few days ago, McDonald’s pledged to start using cage-free eggs.
Currently, about one-third of the revenue generated at Mondelez are from their healthy line of snacks. Over the next five years, they intend to push that up to half. It’s already improved its profit margins through more efficiency in manufacturing and zero-based budgeting. Even Oreos have to change to keep up with consumer demands. Let’s just hope they taste every bit as good as they do now.
