What Will 2016 Hold for Food Companies?

Baum-Whiteman: Poke

The international food and restaurant consultants focus mainly on restaurant trends, but what consumers are eating out tends to trickle down to what they cook at home. In their annual trend report, Baum-Whiteman called out poke,  a Hawaiian dish of chopped raw fish, spices and acid, as the next big trend. Traditionally only seen on the West Coast, with retailers such as Whole Foods Market installing poke pop-up bars and prepared foods options, the trend has slowly made its way across the country. While pre-packing this product (and keeping it fresh) may prove to be too difficult, the trend could manifest itself on retailers’ shelves with poke kits — the hipster version of “tuna helper” perhaps — as just-add-meat meal kits are seeing increased popularity once again.