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Breakfast Menus: A Growing and Evolving Trend
Affectionately referred to as “the most important meal of the day,” breakfast and breakfast menu items remain a prominent staple in our diet. As a result of changes in consumer lifestyles, breakfast is undergoing a major evolution.
The Rise of All-Day Breakfast
While all-day breakfast is hardly a new concept, we’ve certainly experienced a major increase in restaurants offering breakfast menu items the entire day. According to Google Trends, consumer searches for “all day breakfast” has grown three times over the last five years.
Demand for Healthy Options
As the popularity of all-day breakfast menus rises, so too does the demand for healthier menu items. As the health-conscious population has grown, consumers gravitate towards fresh, healthier options. Manufacturers and restaurants have responded to this demand by developing healthier menus full of nutrient-dense food items.
Consumers Demand Honest, Clean Menus
Despite the rise of consumers looking for healthy options, a fair percentage of breakfast eaters still look to indulge in the meal. Whether they’re looking for a healthy menu item or a more indulgent meal, the growth in demand for clean-label ingredients remains constant across the board.
Over the years we’ve seen a major shift in consumer preferences towards clean label and natural ingredients.
• 62% of shoppers avoid artificial preservatives and flavors.
• 61% of shoppers avoid artificial colors.
• 59% of shoppers avoid antibiotics and hormones.
• 53% of shoppers avoid artificial sweeteners.
(According to a 2016 Label Insight Study)
As that paradigm evolves, consumers look past simple labels and demand even more honesty and accountability. There’s a rising demand for label transparency from food manufacturers and restaurants.
As the clean label trend has grown, brands with less than honest claims are being called out and a general state of mistrust builds within consumers. As a response to this mistrust, transparency and honesty in labelling becomes increasingly important.
In fact, in the 2016 Label Insight Study, 94% of consumer’s say, “It is important to buy from transparent brands and manufacturers.” This appetite for transparency has even grown to outweigh the desire for 100% clean labels. In a 2015 Cone Communications/Ebiquity Global CSR Study, 87% of consumers say it’s okay if a company isn’t perfect as long as it’s honest about its efforts.
Finnebrogue’s “Naked Bacon” Indicates Industry Shift
Among the rise in popularity of breakfast items, bacon has grown to an almost iconic level of fame. Unfortunately for all bacon fans, the food is not free of health risks. According to the World Health Organization, the carcinogenic nitrosamines produced when cooking bacon with nitrites are a serious cancer risk and can be as dangerous as asbestos and smoking.
In recent years, celery powder has been used to replace nitrites in the curing of meats. Unfortunately, because celery powder is a natural source of concentrated nitrates and nitrites, labelling cured meats containing celery powder as “no-nitrites-added” can be a misleading claim. In fact, Time released an article in 2015 covering the misleading “no-nitrites-added” label on cured meats. With the demands for both healthier ingredients and transparent, clean labels, a more honest solution was needed.
UK based meat producer, Finnebrogue, has unveiled its answer to this rising demand with an honest, clean label bacon. Naked Bacon is the UK’s first nitrate-free bacon product. The product reduces the cancer risk associated with eating one of the most popular breakfast treats.
Finnebrogue was able to achieve this with Prosur’s T-10, replacing nitrite with the ingredient’s natural fruit and spice extracts. This achievement marks both a huge step forward for food safety as well as a major shift in the meat industry towards honest, clean label solutions.
Offering Your Consumers Honest, Clean Label Uncured Breakfast Meats
Prosur T-10 is the food industry’s solution for offering consumers a more honest uncured product. T-10 utilizes a blend of natural fruit and spice extracts that effectively eliminates sodium nitrite, sodium erythorbate, and lactate/diacetate while providing the same pathogen protection, shelf life, color, flavor, and smell as the alternative. As consumers demand transparency and clean label ingredients, Prosur T-10 is the solution.
Want to learn more about Prosur T-10? Download the brochure for more information.
Clean Up Your Menu for More Sales
With the incredible growth in demand for honest, clean label ingredients, restaurants have a tremendous opportunity for increased traffic and customer loyalty. With the 2016 Label Insight Study reporting 40% of consumers saying they’d switch their brand of preference in favor of more ingredient transparency and 73% of consumers willing to pay more for a brands with complete transparency, the market’s voice is loud and clear. Consumers are reacting positively to honest, clean label menus and restaurants that have accommodated this trend are being rewarded.
Sources:
• http://www.conecomm.com/research-blog/2015-cone-communications-ebiquity-global-csr-study
• https://www.labelinsight.com/transparency-roi-study
• http://www.mintel.com/global-food-and-drink-trends/
• http://time.com/4092912/nitrate-nitrite-bacon-cancer-meat/
• http://www.finnebrogue.com/naked/2017/12/28/nitrite-free-bacon-launches-in-major-british-breakthrough-for-food-safety/
