Food &

Beverage
| March 2020

Nextatlas
Quarterly Report

A look at what's ahead

for the future
2020
Second Quarter
Table of Contents
What’s on 3

Circular Future 4
• Key Insights
• Business Cases & Brand Ideas
Sweet Alternatives 8
• Key Insights
• Business Cases & Brand Ideas
Future-Proof Food 12
• Key Insights
• Business Cases & Brand Ideas
Insiders To Follow 16

Giant Leaps Forward 18

Nextatlas Report 2
 What’s On
March 2020

Food Culture Re-boost

Predictions and projections help us imagine possible scenarios and plan for what’s
about to come; yet, as the future remains uncertain and unpredictable, we need to
prepare ourselves for the worst-case scenario. It’s in the midst of this rather
pessimistic condition that everything is
being questioned and re-evaluated. The
exercise of reimagining, recycling and
repurposing is now embedded in the food
industry, pushing people to rethink
consumption habits, production cycles,
manufacturing processes, waste
management, and so on. The emergence
of new alternatives and the increasing use
of unconventional ingredients and niche
practices are some of the evidences of a
food culture re-boost phenomenon, in
 Credit:iStock
which future-proof food rules and leaves
little space for health-harming and sustainability-unconscious behaviors. Three trends
(Circular Future, Sweet Alternatives and Future-Proof Food) will be used to present a
wide and varied range of possible consumers, each being provided with a compendium
of selected brand cases, brand ideas and the relevant data assembled by the
Nextatlas platform including tags, timeline of evolution and forecast, and target
audience. The report also includes a selection of 4 insiders who can be related to the
themes of the selected trends and give a glimpse of their lifestyles.

Key Insights

• The compulsive use of words starting with the “re-” prefix

can be seen as a re-flection of today’s economy and
Find us:
future trends

• As both health and environmental concerns rise, even

the most common and earliest condiments of our diets
are being re-evaluated

• Amid current food crisis, consumers and producers are

being pushed to rethink consumptions habits and
production cycles

Nextatlas Report 3
 FACT

Reimagine has been steadily

growing (+93%) in 18 months

Emerging Trends
First Trend Analyzed

Circular Future
Nextatlas Trend Research Team | February, 2020

Renew, Reuse, Recycle, Reissue, Remake,
Restore. These are some of the recurring
words that have been popping up
everywhere lately — words that we use
compulsively, without perhaps ever
noticing that they share the same prefix. In
Latin, the prefix re- can mean either “back”
or “again”, while the Latin verb rĕfĭcĭo,
which generally translates as “redo”, can
also mean reconstruct, repair, complete,
heal and recreate. Deriving from the dual
concept of return and reiterate, of “back”
and “again”, these words are linguistic
signs of the birth of the circular economy,
 Credit: New Raw
on the one hand, and, on the other, of the
nostalgia that drives us as we build our
future. Society has a tendency to go in
circles, creating loops in thought,
relationships, the economy, our habits,
which is reflected in our language. In the
same way, we tend to make
everything circular in order to
create a sustainable future based
on recollections of the past. If
the future is set to have a
+8%
Predicted
circular structure, we can expect Growth
the appearance of a number of 6 months
new words created with this prefix,
defining both new and recurring
concepts.

‣ nextatlas.com

Back and Again

How to be fully prepared for the unknown? Learning from past mistakes and picking
up clues from what’s happening now may not provide definitive answers but certainly
increases our chances for a better future. Rethinking and reimagining long-
established practices and behaviors are manifestations of the “re-“ culture that we are
currently living in. It is a phenomenon that concerns all industries, particularly the
food sector. Amid the current food crisis — driven by limited availability of arable land,
the effects of climate change, food waste, and so on—, a more conscious and
sustainable mindset is thriving and influencing both producers and consumers.

Nextatlas Report 4
  Credit: @miniaturerhino

Key Insights
• There is a growing use of words
with the prefix re-

• Deriving from Latin, the prefix

has a double meaning of “back”
and “again”

• Based on the concepts of return

and reiteration, these words are
 Credit: Grazia UK
linguistic signs of the birth of
the circular economy and of the
nostalgia of our era

 Credit: @hatopress

Credit: Stocksy United

 Credit: A Cozy Kitchen

Top Demographics Timeline Forecasting Model Measured Data

Gen X (38-57)
MENTIONS

Millennials (23-37)

Main Tags
Reissue Remake TIME

Upcycling Mending
Top Emojis
Restore Renovate

Nextatlas Report 5
Business Cases & Brand Ideas

From Waste to Energy

Repurposed food waste has been a big

driver for numerous start-ups and
companies for the past years. ReGrained,
for instance, works with brewery partners
to rescue the grain after they have
extracted the sugars needed to make
beer. Powered by patent-pending tools
and culinary creativity, the company
transforms beer grains into upcycled
nutrition bars, puffs and premium
ingredients.

regrained.com/
Business Cases & Brand Ideas

Closing the Cycle

LOOP is a circular economy project that

repurposes the outcasts of the food
industry. The company collaborates with
major food industry actors to save
perfectly good products that would be
discarded before even reaching grocery
stores, for producing cold-pressed juices,
sour beers and fruity spirits. To close the
loop, the nutritious high-fiber pulp is given
to a company that turns it into dog treats.

loopmission.com/
 FACT
Unsweetened has been steadily
growing (+119%) in 18 months

Emerging Trends
Second Trend Analyzed

Sweet Alternatives
Nextatlas Trend Research Team | January, 2020

When, years ago artificial sweeteners

first started appearing on the market
resulting in a myriad of sweetened
products that were both sugar and
calorie free, brands and consumers
alike believed it was the dawn of a new,
healthier sugarless era. However, soon
questions regarding their safety started
emerging and research was conducted Credits:  Deposit Photos

to better understand the impact of

sweeteners such as saccharine, and
aspartame on our health, revealing that
they might increase the risk of cancer
and even alter our gut microbiome. Yet
despite these risks, due to the ever
increasing number health problems
related to sugar, e.g. diabetes, obesity
and heart disease, the preference for
low calorie, sugar free foods continued
to increase, and the alternative
sweetener market was poised to grow
exponentially. Today, people are
searching for new alternatives to
synthetic sweeteners in a quest to
find the “new sugar”. The new
s u g a r s c u r re n t l y o n t h e
market are either nutritive or
non-nutritive plant extracts or
+14%
Predicted
sugar alcohols, such as monk Growth
fruit, date syrup, coconut 6 months
sugar, xylitol, erythritol, yacon
syrup, agave nectar and allulose, to
name a few.
‣ nextatlas.com

Healthier Substitute
As we learn more about the hidden truth of certain substances and their impacts on
our health and in the environment, we tend to ask ourselves: what else is out there?
The quest for new alternative sweeteners shows how even the most common
condiments of our diets are being re-evaluated. “Alternative” is a golden concept in an
era where outdated and close-minded solutions are not enough, and every single
detail of our diets is being questioned.

Nextatlas Report 8
  Credit: Chowhound

Key Insights

• People are questioning and

avoiding synthetic sweeteners
more and more

• The demand for sugar alternatives

continues to rise due to the
increase in sugar related health
issues and and a growing
preference for sugar free options

Credit: iStock/Studio-Annika

 Credit: Ghazalle Badiozamani

 Credit: Briana Riddock  Credit: Shutterstock

Emerging Targets Main Tags

INTERESTS & LIFESTYLES DEMOGRAPHICS
Syrup Sweetened
Vegans Gen X (38-57)
Stevia Condensed
Alcohol Drinks Appreciators Gen Z (13-22) Elderberry Maple

Vegetarians Millennials (23-37)

Top Emojis
Seniors (58+)

Nextatlas Report 9
 Business Cases & Brand Ideas

From Waste to Energy

After noticing that the sugar substitutes

market was dominated by unhealthy and
chemically-processed sweeteners, Dutch
company Fooditive decided to create a
healthy alternative - a 100% natural, zero-
calorie sweetener with a clean taste and a
functionality similar to sugar. Fooditive
sweetener is made from food waste: it
uses leftovers from apples and pears and
other food scraps, and extracts the
natural fructose through a fermentation
process.

fooditive.nl/

 Credit: senata/iStock, ffolas/iStock

Business Cases & Brand Ideas

Revamping Sugar

As the quest for the “new sugar” expands

the horizons of food industry, new
ingredients are being added up to
sweeteners. Hemp-specialized company
Socati, for instance, created a CBD coffee
sweetener, a brown sugar-flavored,
rapidly dissolving.
The free-from product is made without
sugar or dairy and shares a simple way
for consumers to customize their
beverages with high-quality CBD.

socati.com/
 FACT

Reusable has been steadily growing

(+82%) in 18 months

Emerging Trends
Third Trend Analyzed

Future-Proof Food
Nextatlas Trend Research Team | March 2020

In today’s anxiety-ridden, anthropogenic, Fe ar of a wor s t- cas e s ce nari o is

climate-change scenario, concerns about influencing people’s consumption habits
natural resource shortages have triggered and pushing manufacturers to rethink their
the race for more sustainable initiatives. production methods, with future-proof
And it’s not only the consequences of foods setting the new standard for the
human-induced environmental damages food industry. For consumers, more
that have been aggravating an overall choices of longer-shelf-life foods,
apprehension for the future, but also a anti-waste appliances, and
range of other apocalyptic-like scenarios. upcycled food products are
To some, preparing for doomsday may
seem a rash overreaction. Yet recent
emerging. For producers,
adopting more sustainable
+7%
+4%
Predicted
political tensions, virus threats and natural farming systems, such as Growth
disasters are proving otherwise; the regenerative agriculture, is about 6 months
danger is not just imminent, it is to become the new standard as
happening already.  Credit: Popeyes Regenerative Organic Certifications
(ROCs) are expected to be included among
the mainstream food labels on the market.

‣ nextatlas.com

 Credit: CK Bangkok Photography/Shutterstock

Futureproof Now
When real change demands reshaping and restructuring of the whole system,
impacts of alternatives and substitutes may be too minimal to matter. As projections
for the global food economy are not optimistic, the urge for change is pushing
consumers and producers to adopt new habits and to implement more sustainable
systems of farming and manufacturing. What is now considered as niche and specific
practice is set to become the new mainstream and standard in the food industry.

Nextatlas Report 12
Key Insights
• Food consumption habits and
production methods are being
reshaped as concerns with
environmental issues, political
tensions, and natural disasters
increase

• Future-proof foods are setting

the standard in the food
industry

 Credit: OpenTEAM

 Credit: Kathryn Larsen

 Credit: @nomacph

 Credit:CK Bangkok Photography/Shutterstock  Credit: Civil Eats

Main Tags Timeline Forecasting Model Measured Data

Regenerative Seaweed
MENTIONS

Algae Insect

Upcycled Repurposed

Top Values
Environmentalists

Spiritual Top Emojis TIME

Nextatlas Report 13
  Credit: Primitives

Business Cases & Brand Ideas

Sensing Food

In a lab at IndieBio, a biotech accelerator

based in San Francisco, startup
Primitives has spent the last several
months developing new bio-based
packaging that can respond to the
environment and detect safety issues, but
can also be safely composted in a
backyard. The basic material, without
added sensing capabilities, is made from
renewable sources like algae, which have
the advantage of sucking up large
quantities of CO2 as they grow. To make
the packaging “smart,” the startup can
incorporate new functions that mimic
natural mechanisms to respond to
changes in the environment. 

primitives.io

 Credit: Primitives  Credit: Primitives

Business Cases & Brand Ideas

Tracking Food

According to the Food and Agricultural

Organization of the United Nations, a third
of food produced for human
consumption is lost or wasted. To help
fight food wastage, designer Savin Dimov
and Altino Alex, created Bubble - a food
tracker that tracks, stores, and
replenishes food.

behance.net/savindimov
 FACT

Spices has been steadily growing

(+108%) in 18 months

Insiders To Follow
Emerging & Meaningful Profiles

dappereatslondon ‣ instagram.com/dappereatslondon

472 posts 6,777 followers 1,394 followed

Food Trader Turned Blogger 📸 🍽
📍 London & Hertfordshire 🇬🇧 Restaurants & Recipes 🌭 Founder @dapperdoghotdogs 🍽
Restaurants & Streetfood 🔊 PR, Photography & Social Media Manager
www.dapperdoghotdogs.com

aimeebourque ‣ instagram.com/aimeebourque

4,913 post 37.6k followers 992 followed

Aimée | Simple Bites | Recipes
Award-winning food writer. Mum to 3. Former chef. Bestselling cookbook author.
Zero waste & zero hunger advocate (Click the link below for recipes 👇 )
tap.bio/@aimeebourque

Nextatlas Report 16
 FACT

Proteins has been steadily growing

(+22%) in 18 months

Insiders To Follow
Emerging & Meaningful Profiles

joelgamoran ‣ instagram.com/joelgamoran

1,614 posts 13.7k followers 6,938 followed

Joel Gamoran
WASTE LESS, EAT MORE Motivational Chef 🍽 #ReadyForSeconds: 15 min scrappy recipes M & F!
#CookingScrappy @Harper_wave 📚 readyforseconds.com

zerowastenerd ‣ instagram.com/zerowastenerd

1,138 post 69.4k followers 994 followed

Megean Weldon, Zero Waste
❤ Realistic Zero Waste Tips 💰 Frugal Living 📖 Author of "An (Almost) Zero Waste Life" 📍 Kansas City
♻ #30daystozerowaste zerowastenerd.com/zero-waste-living

Nextatlas Report 17
Giant leaps
forward.

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