A decade on from the first Waitrose Food and Drink Report this year’s report looks back on what we’ve been eating and drinking this year, and the trends over the last ten years.
The biggest trends this year are familiar, comfort foods, high protein and gut friendly foods, low and no alcohol drinks and canned cocktails.
We’re a nation that’s fallen in (and possibly out of) love with cronuts and cruffins, clean eating, cauliflower steaks, baking sourdough and flexitarianism, which is here to stay. The report is based on analysis of shopping trends; millions of product sales and a survey of 2,000 UK adults¹.
Key trends that defined 2023:
1. Classic comfort foods
James Bailey, executive director of Waitrose, says: “This year, food inflation has changed not only how people shop, but also how they cook and eat. Price-conscious customers have been searching for the best value; switching more to own-label, buying bigger pack sizes and looking to our promotions to cushion their bills.
“They’ve been simplifying their meal choices and becoming a little less adventurous, choosing familiar foods and recipes they find comforting. Chicken Kyiv and beer battered fish are the most popular dishes in our Dine In Meal Deal.”
A third of our Food and Drink survey respondents (32%) told us they’re regularly eating classic dishes such as shepherd’s pie and macaroni cheese.
We’re particularly finding comfort in the humble spud: sales of potato side dishes are up 19%, with triple cooked chips and potato dauphinoise the most sought after. And we’ve also turned to more everyday frozen potato sides for contentment driving sales of Essential French Fries up 80% and Essential Crinkle Cut Chips up 34%. This year, we also rediscovered our love of the British banger – sales of our Waitrose Essential Pork Sausages (made from outdoor bred pigs) are up 34% on last year.
We even found solace in these foods during the wet summer when sales of ready made roast potatoes and yorkshire puddings were up 47% and 39% respectively.
2. Fermented foods became mainstream
With increased interest in our gut health, demand for fermented foods has grown. Sales of fermented condiments, pickles, glazes and sauces are up 14%. Two flavours dominate: tang and umami. Kimchi and Super-Beet beetroot kimchi are up 44% and 114% respectively.
3. Protein everything…
Protein used to be solely the preserve of bodybuilders, and thought of as simply meat or fish but now making sure you’re eating enough of it has become mainstream. Those aged under 35 years who took part in our 2023 Food and Drink survey, rated being ‘high in protein’ the most important health quality in a food product above aiding their mood, sleep or skin, or being low in fat, salt or sugar. One in 8 (12%) adults surveyed told us they have changed their diet over the past year to eat more protein. In store, high-protein drinks and yogurts are up 39%. The one unlikely protein-packed ingredient that caught everyone by surprise this year is cottage cheese: slightly retro, great value and hugely versatile – sales are up 14%.
4. BYOC (Bring your own cocktails)
Wondering what drinks to take to a Christmas party this year? Why not bring a canned cocktail. 40% have ‘BYOC-ed’ for the first time in the past six months, with rum and tequila-based cocktails seeing a combined growth of 84%, with our MOTH Margarita (tequila, triple sec and lime) leading the pack.
5. Italian 2:0
Hands down our favourite international cuisine this year – indeed, survey results showed that Italian food, whether cooked at home, ordered in a restaurant or as a takeaway, tops all others. Nearly one third (30%) of those surveyed said they have eaten it more than any other international cuisine this year, with Chinese and Indian joint second most popular (eaten the most by nearly one fifth of those surveyed – 19%).
6. Chopped! Smashed!
Viral food is all about theatre, and adding some cheffy swagger into preparing your meals is the only way to go this year….If it isn’t chopped, food is smashed. Searches for #smashburgers peaked with seven million views on TikTok, while #datebark: a layer of flattened Medjool dates drizzled with chocolate or caramel has seen three million views on TikTok this year alone. At Waitrose, sales of dates are up by 67% this year.
In October, smashed peas on toast was declared the new ‘avocado on toast’ and we’ve seen sales of our 725g pack of frozen garden peas rise 28% this autumn.
7.The rise (and rise) of ‘no and low’ drinks
“The rise of no and low, lighter reds, ice in wine, cocktails in cans… this year we’ve been ripping up the alcohol rulebook and discovering a new freedom in choosing what we want to drink and when,” says Pierpaolo Petrassi, Master of Wine and Head of Trading for Beers, Wines, Spirits & Soft Drinks.
Sales of no or low-alcohol beer, cider, wines and spirits are up 23% and demand is continuing to grow. One in 20 survey respondents (5%) told us they had their first ‘non-alcoholic drink’ this year.
Will it be a more sober Christmas and New Year this year? Around one in seven (15%) said they intend to ‘drink less alcohol’, with health being the main driver, and 25% will do it ‘to save money’ (only 6% are trying to avoid a hangover).
And the trends going down….
Vegetable crisps
Veggie crisps first made waves back in 2010 as a healthier snack alternative – but are we now tiring of them? This year we’ve seen a slump in sales (-15%), with customers turning back to the simple joys of the humble potato crisp – the nation’s favourite snack.
Ready-made jacket potato with cheese on top
This product was delisted as shoppers, more mindful of budgets, step away from buying anything they can easily create themselves. “Customers are looking for products that add value. If they don’t know how to make it, or think that we do it better, they’ll buy it. But if it doesn’t fall into either of those, they’ll buy the raw ingredients and do it themselves,” says Lizzie Haywood, Innovations Manager.
Pink food
This summer, the world went pink. Even food got swept up in Barbie mania – pink pasta sauce, anyone? Sales of red food colouring rose 25% in July – only to fall back to normal levels the month after.
Low-fat yogurt, cheese and milk
Over the past year a third of people surveyed said they have switched from eating a low fat dairy product to a full fat one. The most common is milk, followed by yogurt and cheese.
Predicted key trends of 2024: AI will become commonplace in the kitchen. We will continue to stretch our taste buds with Nepalese and Pakistani cuisines, and Fiori Di Sicilia and Doejang ingredients. Expect to see more psychobiotics for sale, and to hear more about food made from thin air, which is already being eaten in Singapore.
Trends that defined the decade:
2013 Frankenbaking – baking mash-ups dominated with the cronut, cruffin and brookie
2014 Flexitarianism – people cottoned on to the health advantages of eating a more plant-based diet, but many didn’t want to go full-on vegetarian
2015 Clean eating – a diet of vegetables, lean proteins, wholegrains and healthy fats, while limiting highly processed snacks and other packaged foods with added sugar and salt took centre stage
2016 Mindful drinking – Dry January hit the headlines, with 14,000 people downloading an app in a campaign backed by Public Health England
2017 The return of carbs – this year, we put the kale aside and returned to artisan bread, quality pizza, fresh pasta and more ‘exotic’ carbs such as quinoa and bulgur wheat
2018 Rise of Meat-free – As people grew more climate and health aware, they turned to meat-free meals and Veganuary 2018 broke all records, with 168,542 people pledging to go vegan for the whole of January
2019 Vegan comfort food – This was the year vegan food went ‘dirty’, with cauliflower fried ‘chicken’, ‘bleeding’ plant-based burgers and cashew-milk mac ‘n’ cheese
2020 Lockdown dinners – Lockdowns meant that some of us could spend longer in the kitchen and thousands of Gen Z-ers got into cooking for the first time
2021 Entertaining – As we slowly came through the pandemic, we regrouped. People started to entertain friends and family again and it was all about smaller, more intimate dinner parties
2022 The Airfryer – The cost of living crisis came with the added sting of soaring energy bills, so people started looking for economical alternatives
