Unilever Shares Menu Trends to Inspire Sales and Inspiration in Professional Kitchens; Star Chen and Kees van Erp Comment

The results are in! Looking to help foodservice operators achieve success by keeping a tab on the industry’s rising trends, Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) has launched its 2024 Future Menu Trends Report. The report explores how UFS is leveraging its powerful market insights and cutting-edge product portfolio to attract, engage, and support chefs.

“Unilever Food Solutions is a business of chefs for chefs,” says Star Chen, Chief Executive Officer of Unilever Food Solutions. “Our close communication with foodservice professionals allows us to have an in-depth understanding of their needs and pain points, which consequently allows us to offer unmissable, superior products that help address those needs.”

Drawing on the expertise of 250 in-house UFS chefs, the report leverages insights from more than 1,600 foodservice professionals across 21 markets to maximize engagement with existing customers, reach out to new clients, and showcase innovative products that can support chefs in reaching their culinary goals, a release explained.

Among the trends predicted for 2024, Unilever highlighted two key shifts in the sector:

• Flavor Shock is an ‘anything goes’ approach that takes ingredients and gives them a serious and surprising culinary makeover. With talent shortages and energy costs impacting the industry, chefs are looking for low-touch methods that achieve maximum impact. In fact, the Knorr Professional Bouillon and Seasonings category saw underlying sales growth of 15 percent in 2023
• Plant-Powered Protein encourages chefs to make the most of plant-based dishes. With 89 percent of meat-free meals being eaten by non-vegetarians, chefs can optimize their operations with menus that cater to all. UFS has seen an increase in demand for Hellmann’s Vegan which has enjoyed a two-year compound annual growth rate of over 50 percent

“The Future Menu recipes offer us the opportunity to present our key products in action,” says Kees van Erp, UFS Global Executive Chef. “And to highlight how our innovations, be they in product or packaging or application, can address chefs’ pain points that we have identified in each market.”

By showcasing the advantages of UFS products in this way, the Future Menu Trends report supports the business’s strategy of delivering consistent, competitive growth with superior products from core brands like Knorr Professional and Hellmann’s, the release noted.

To read the report in full, click here.

And as always, keep reading DMN for the latest industry updates!