The rise and rise of vegans and veggies and the shocking state of the environment have spawned a massive increase in meat and dairy alternatives. It’s becoming increasingly mainstream – even high-street outlet Thornton’s Budgens has just expanded its vegan range to 800 items. This market is not new, and there have been options in […]
An elegant woman walks into a bar. She sits at a stool and scans the labels of the bottles in front of her. Suddenly a man appears, dressed in a sharp navy suit. He’s holding a couple of glasses of a spirit on ice. He passes her one and she smiles appreciatively. They clink glasses […]
We’ve reached a point where we use emojis to order pizza, pay for stuff with our phones and watch films wherever and whenever we want. Today’s most successful ideas play into these customer demands, finding their own corners in an age of expectation and economy of convenience. Convenience is no longer a nice-to-have. In 2019, […]
Soft drinks is a tough, crowded market; Brits drank nearly 13.5 million litres of the stuff in 2017 (British Soft Drinks Association, Global Data 2018). Now there’s a new wave of innovative young brands enjoying growing sales, and they’re causing a stir in soft drinks with their standout packaging, and unusual and enticing flavours. So […]
As one of the most heavily regulated categories, the spirits business has long been defined by mandated category norms and a reliance on traditional points of sale. However, as technology evolves and eCommerce reinvents retail, this disruption is starting to be felt by the spirits market as well. While spirit consumption has been dominated by […]
Our drinking habits are changing fast and the beer industry is transforming alongside these trends. The Office for National Statistics states that one adult in five in the UK is now teetotal, and for 16-24-year-olds, it goes up to one in four. Some 4.5m people took part in Dry January last year, a number which […]
After years of everything ‘Millennial’ taking centre stage, the focus is shifting to a new Generation – ‘Z’; Those born between 1996 and 2010 will make up 33% of the world population by 2020. Much has been said about the millennial spirit but ‘millennialism’ isn’t just about millennials. It is a mind set that drives […]
It’s probably no accident that the majority of entrepreneurs which successfully pitch for expert investment on the BBC television show Dragons Den run food and drink businesses. It’s a sector that’s familiar to many of the dragons who know they can open the necessary retail doors without too much upfront capital investment on their part. […]
Before the craft drinks revolution, genuinely tasty beverages that were founded on taste and creativity, rather than global branding and mass-production, were hard to come by. Fortunately, flavour and brand character now abound in beers and spirits, and the big global brands are scratching their heads, or just buying up the craft brands to compete! […]
Recently I was given the opportunity to take on a new role at GSK HQ in London. Living here again after 15 years my first impression is that not much seems to have changed – great curries, crammed Underground, pre-occupation with the royal family, lengthy and repeated discussions on the weather (remains a national pastime) […]