Grain and Bakery Innovation: Culinary Trend Tracking Series

Grain and Bakery Innovation: Culinary Trend Tracking Series charts the rising profiles or new spins on the following menu items and product types:

• Biscuit Love
• Breakfast Bowls of Champions
• À la Carte Bakery Specialties
• Artisanal & Sourdough Loaves
• Chilaquiles & Migas: Beyond the Breakfast Burrito
• Corn as the New Ancient Grain
• Chefs Go Crackers
• Donuts with a Difference
• Grown-Up Porridge
• Protein-Rich Grain Specialties
• Rice as the New Ancient Grain
• Tacos Way Past Tuesday
• Toast & Breakfast Sandwiches
• Waffles, French Toast, & Pancakes

The low-carb trend has finally been right-sized, such that grains (whole or heritage grains in particular) are good to go. That’s evident from foodie fascination with grains, from ancient amaranth to street tacos, and from the synergies in the grain and bakery trends covered in this reports. Artisanal bread trends have carried over into chef-crafted crackers, with avocado toast landing in between. Congee is at the intersection of porridge and rice trends, as are grits in the case of corn. A corn renaissance also plays out with chilaquiles & migas, and more broadly with tacos as street food gone sacred, even as taco toppings and tortilla chips are spiked into breakfast bowls. Newfangled breakfast bowls and stuffed French toasts tie into breakfast all day mentality, as do new takes on biscuits, donuts, and porridge. The natural and high-antioxidant colors of plant foods cue healthful for specialty corns, rices, grains—and even donuts. And the relatively low cost of most grains means that innovation can be made to work across the spectrum of price points.

But grains have always been more than a proletariat staple: they’re healthy, flavorful, distinctive, and both drenched in tradition and worthy of the best new creative impulses. The essential familiarity of grains means that innovation is a deep field of fertile soil.

The drivers to the food trends discussed throughout this report align with core consumer values to be tapped for menu and new product development. Menu and retail trend translation tips included in the profiles provide detailed ideas and suggestions on how these culinary trends can be used to generate business growth. Throughout, Grain and Bakery Innovation: Culinary Trend Tracking Series features consumer survey or menu data to quantify the growth on menus of an item.