Culinology - December 2017 - 46

PETITS fours

THE NEW PLEASURE PARADIGM

Cooking remains a
valued activity, but
consumers today
seek shortcuts.
Photo by: ©elnariz stock.Adobe.com

46 |

If humans are hardwired to seek pleasure
from food and beverage, why are we
buying less soda and fast food?
"We've seen categories traditionally oriented toward
pleasure take a bit of a decrease in terms of growth
these days," said Jennifer
Goodrich, senior consultant at the Hartman
Group, Bellevue, Wash.
Icons of indulgence,
such as soda and fast
food, are facing declines, she said during the
Hartman Group's "Driving
Growth 2017" symposium
last September in Seattle.
Pleasure remains a leading
driver of food and beverage purchases; however, consumers perceive
and experience pleasure differently today.
In the past, she said, "we enjoyed and appreciated the idea of mass produced, uniform
products...that was pleasurable to us."
Today, attributes such as freshness, authenticity and experience provide pleasure,
Ms. Goodrich said.
Pleasure plays a key role in the modern-day
consumer's view of health and wellness. The
occasional indulgence is critical to maintaining mental and emotional well-being, Ms.
Goodrich said.
"Premium pleasure is about moving away
from this idea that indulgence is a forbidden treat and something you should feel bad
about and toward opening the doors to these
really experiential and fun products," she said.
"It's still indulgent, but it's an indulgence consumers walk away from thinking, 'Wow, that
was really worthwhile,' versus, 'Oh my gosh, I
really wish I hadn't done that.'"
Elements of the new pleasure paradigm
include simple ingredients and nuanced flavor profiles. Such attributes elevate a classic
indulgence to a premium, more permissible
experience, Ms. Goodrich said, citing as an

Culinology | DECEMBER 2017

example Mighty-O Donuts in Seattle, which
uses certified organic ingredients to prepare
donuts from scratch and donates leftovers
to non-profit organizations to reduce food
waste.
"Finding new flavors, exploring new ingredients, is just fun," Ms. Goodrich said. "It's
fun to shake things up every now and then.
Consumers really like doing this. They find it
to be a pleasurable activity. And global flavors
are something we find being increasingly relevant today."
Technology has transformed how consumers engage with food. Consumers have
adopted a more active role in shaping food
culture and industry.
"We see an entrepreneurial spirit in consumers today with start-ups and microventure capitalism as the ultimate form of selfexpression," Ms. Goodrich said. "Because
if there's something you want to change or
create, you can, and platforms like Kickstarter
allow for that. Food-related tech start-ups last
year alone raised about $5.7 billion in about
275 deals."
Cooking remains a valued activity, but
today's time-strapped consumer seeks shortcuts such as meal kits and prepared foods
in the supermarket deli, a department that is
growing six times as fast as total grocery, Ms.
Goodrich said.
"What's mainly critical here is these options
are customizable so they can meet a variety
of diets and desires and needs from various
family members," she said. "It's a great way
for someone to buy one item and then spend
the time creating and expressing and coming
up with something from scratch as a side."
To tap into today's pleasure principles, it is
critical to move beyond the temporary "high"
often associated with pleasure and focus on
real ingredients and updated flavor profiles,
while stoking consumer desire for self-expression, Ms. Goodrich said.
"There is always a chance to buy into this
space...but there's also opportunity to revamp current products."

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