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Bowls certainly are not a new food trend, and they are not going anywhere anytime soon. According to the Wall Street Journal, “bowls are the new plates.” Bowls have always been a way to dine on some everyday foods, mostly soups & salad, breakfast cereal and even ice cream. But now, consumers can customize their bowls to their liking providing variety and convenience.

From smoothie bowls, breakfast bowls and even ethnic influenced entrée bowls—we are seeing bowls in a whole new light. We’re spotting a 31% increase in bowled items on the restaurant menu from Q3 2010-Q3 2016. Add to that a 100% increase from 2015-2016 in new bowled products on supermarket shelves, the options are bowling us over.

Smoothie Bowls

Most smoothie bowls appear on restaurant menus, but there are limited number showing up on supermarket shelves. These tend to be fruit-forward and unique. On Pinterest there are thousands of pins to build your own smoothie bowls with combinations like mango pineapple, chocolate hazelnut, maple chai and avocado, kale & raspberry. On Instagram we found 658,969 posts with the hashtag #smoothiebowl.

Avoke Spoonable Smoothie Bowl—the first packaged nutrient-rich ‘smoothie bowl’, a high-protein superfood with a crunchy toasted quinoa topping you can eat with an eco-friendly spoon. Each cup includes: ½ avocado, 2 full servings of fruits & vegetables and 10 g fiber. Flavors include: berry mint, greens and ginger, spicy carrot and coconut curry.

Sambazon Superfruit Packs—just add your oats and other fruits to make your own acai bowl.  Made with organic and GMO-free ingredients sustainably sourced from the Brazilian Amazon.

On the Menu

Jamba Juice:  these energy bowls are said to be a delicious and nutritious blend of real whole fruit, fresh Greek yogurt and/or soy milk, topped with an assortment of dry toppings & fresh fruits.

Island Pitaya Bowl: creamy tropical twist on the classic parfait bowl.

Acai Primo Bowl: a tasty twist of Açaí juice, soymilk, blueberries, strawberries and bananas, which is topped with organic granola, fresh bananas, fresh blueberries, coconut and a drizzle of honey.

Breakfast Bowls

As consumers are focused on convenience and healthy eating, the breakfast bowl is a great way to maximize on fresh & healthy ingredients all in one locations. Including ingredients like oatmeal, chia seeds, fresh fruits and even matcha—consumers are making sure their day is off to a great start. On Instagram there are 134,594 posts with the hashtag #breakfastbowl.

Good Food Made Simple Turkey Sausage Breakfast Bowl—includes egg whites, roasted potatoes, turkey sausage, veggies and cheddar cheese. The breakfast bowl contains no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, trans fat, and is made with turkey raised without antibiotics and cage free eggs.

Quaker Oats Bring Your Best Bowl—available for a limited time only, Quaker asked consumers to vote for their favorite oatmeal. Flavors include: apple cheddar rosemary, lemon ricotta pancake and vanilla chai.

Entrée Bowls

The bowl trend may have started many years ago with Chipotle, serving salads and burritos undone in a bowl. According to Technomic, bowls are still a hot trend and have seen a 29.7% rise in the entree category alone over the last five years. Power bowls are pushing the entrée salad out of the way due to their versatility—you can eat them hot or cold and combine endless amounts of veggies, proteins and whole grains to create your one of a kind bowl. We are spotting an ethnic influence in bowls from burrito bowls, curry bowls and even noodle bowls—consumers can eat around the world without ever having to leave their dinner table.

SmartMade Orange Sesame Chicken Bowl—includes real grilled white meat chicken with broccoli, snap peas and roasted red peppers over quinoa lightly tossed in an orange sesame sauce.

Wicked Kitchen Coconut Curry Noodle Bowl—includes lo mein noodles, crisp red bell peppers, carrots, scallions in a Thai style coconut curry sauce with finely chopped cilantro.

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FONA CAN HELP!

Let FONA’s market insight and research experts translate these trends into product category ideas for your brand. They can help you with concept and flavor pipeline development, ideation, consumer studies and white space analysis to pinpoint opportunities in the market.

Our flavor and product development experts are also at your service to help meet the labeling and flavor profile needs for your products to capitalize on this consumer trend. We understand how to mesh the complexities of flavor with your brand development, technical requirements and regulatory needs to deliver a complete taste solution. From concept to manufacturing, we’re here every step of the way.

Contact our Sales Service Department at 630.578.8600 to request a flavor sample or visit www.fona.com.

Sources:

Mintel GNPD

Mintel Menu Insights

New York Times

Pinterest

Instagram

Forbes