100 Keyword Predictions for 2023 | Food and Beverages (41-50): Zero Alcohol, Web3 Winery, and Energy Saving

WPP's brand Wunderman Intelligence released its latest trend report, which has a bright outlook for 2023. They predicted 100 keywords for 2023, and people are determined to fight against the ongoing difficulties with resilience, innovation and joy. This series shares 10 sections. The following is the fifth article in this series - Food and Beverage. I hope it will be helpful to everyone.

Continuing from the previous article "Global Top 100 Trends Report in 2023", the first part: Culture; the second part: Technology and the Metaverse; the third part: Qiwu B&B and Meta Travel; the fourth part: Brand and Marketing. Today we will take a look at the fifth part.

Part V: Food and Beverages

41. Extreme Dining – Avant-garde diners are indulging in otherworldly cuisine.

Diners are seeking out-of-the-ordinary culinary experiences that include whimsical menus, exaggerated cooking processes and extreme dining locations.

Bompas;Parr is a London-based design studio known for its multi-sensory design work.

In February 2022, the studio hosted a dinner in Saudi Arabia’s historic AlUla region – an area famous for its sandstone canyons and black lunar volcanic plateaus – where diners were served dishes cooked with lava.

Lava technicians pour the lava in a spectacular show, and then professional chefs cook local ingredients on the lava flows heated to up to 1,350 degrees Celsius. Swedish airline OceanSky Cruises will offer a premium dining experience on an expedition airship in the Arctic in 2024.

In addition to enjoying gourmet food in the air, travelers can also experience open-air dining in the snowy scenery during the 38-hour adventure.

According to Christie's auction house, the aged wines stored in space have an extraordinary taste.

Last year, connoisseurs bid on a bottle of Petrus 2000 that had spent 14 months in orbit aboard the International Space Station, maturing in zero gravity and traveling nearly 180 million miles.

Why you should pay attention to this trend:

Consumers are seeking to escape the mundane through extreme dining experiences, experiencing unforgettable experiences that go beyond the typical restaurant setting.

42. Virtual Taste - What does the Metaverse taste like?

The Metaverse is impacting the food and beverage industry, providing people with new flavor inspiration and building new dining experiences.

In May 2022, Coca-Cola launched a new soda flavor with an unusual source of inspiration: the metaverse. The "Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte" drink was originally released in Fortnite and was said to have a pixelated flavor.

Oana Vlad, senior director of global strategy for the brand, said: “We wanted to create an innovative flavour that was inspired by the fun of pixels and had its roots in the gaming experience.

Just as pixels facilitate digital connections, ‘Coca-Cola Sugar Free Bytes’ brings people closer together.” Other brands are also playing around the theme of togetherness, reimagining dining experiences in the metaverse.

Mexico-based architecture firm Rojkind Arquitectos and experimental design studio Bompas;Parr have created a virtual brewery for Jose Cuervo on the Decentraland platform, which the studio’s co-founder Harry Parr said “brings a real-world multi-sensory experience into the infinite world of Decentraland.”

The design studio is reinterpreting the role food and drink will play in the future of digital life, with a focus on the connected features of these products.

"The form of the structure was inspired by the agave root, which, if you look closely, is very much about the plant and its ability to evoke a feeling of protection and reassurance," said Rojkind Arquitectos.

The virtual distillery, called Jose Cuervo Metadistillery, aims to be a hub for everyone to connect and build an inclusive community.”

Why you should pay attention to this trend:

Eating and drinking is an obvious real-world experience - but brands are exploring how to bring it into the virtual world and how virtual experiences can guide the design of physical food and beverage products. As virtual lifestyles develop, we can expect to see the future metaverse reinterpreting food and beverage in more creative ways.

43. Zero Alcohol Lifestyle – The rising sober generation wants to experience excitement without drinking.

An article published in Vice magazine in September 2022 noted that alcohol has "lost its charm", with bars and restaurants offering more and more alcohol-free products, and some consumers even giving up alcohol completely. The origin of this trend is that more and more people (especially Generation Z) are choosing a zero-alcohol lifestyle.

The Guardian reported that the 16-24 year old group in the UK is a generation that does not drink and drive, and 26% of them do not even drink at all.

Jay Richards, co-founder of Generation Z research agency Imagen Insights, told Wunderman: “Increased health awareness means many people recognise the negative effects of alcohol and society is becoming more tolerant of those who refuse to drink.”

There is a growing number of moderation bars that enhance the experience of drinking out but reduce the amount of alcohol.

• NoLo officially opened in July 2022 and is Dubai’s first alcohol-free bar, serving healthy handcrafted cocktails.
• That same year, Temperance Bar opened in San Francisco, an invitation-only speakeasy offering more than 100 non-alcoholic spirits, mixers and drinks.
• In Melbourne, Brunswick Aces Bar, which opened in April 2021, is Australia's first alcohol-free bar. In addition to bars that cater to non-drinking groups, liquor stores have also begun to supply a variety of non-alcoholic alcohol products.
• Zero Co is Atlanta's first alcohol-free liquor store. The store opened in December 2022 to meet the growing demand for low- and zero-alcohol products. It stocks more than 300 bottles of alcohol-free spirits, wine and beer, and also has a tasting space.
• In September 2022, the pop-up store Sèchey opened a permanent store in New York's West Village. Founder Emily Heintz is committed to introducing people to healthy alcohol so that people can get rid of hangovers the next day while enjoying fine wine at the tasting table.
• In Singapore, Free Spirit, which opened in 2020, is the country's first alcohol-free liquor store.

Why you should pay attention to this trend:

Zero alcohol is the new trend.

Over the past few years, as beverage brands have begun to produce more refined non-alcoholic alternatives, more and more people have been seeking out low- or no-alcohol drinks. Now, thanks to modern liquor stores with tasting tables and trendy bars that are completely alcohol-free, such products are becoming a new companion to people's social occasions.

44. Wilderness Survival Dining

Wild ingredients foraged by people are creating a new wilderness survival dining experience. People are savoring the thrill of scavenger hunt menus.

"Chefs vs. Wild" is a new reality show launched by the streaming platform Hulu. Each episode features two world-class chefs. The program crew throws them into the wilderness far away from the city, allowing them to collect ingredients on their own and make exquisite dishes.

The show, which premiered in September 2022, will see each chef team up with an outdoor expert and survivalist to ensure they don't accidentally ingest poisonous plant and animal ingredients or get injured in the process. During this time, the chefs must have experience or knowledge in foraging and butchering, and once selected, they must gather, hunt and fish for the ingredients they need.

Using ingredients foraged from the wild, they prepare a special meal in a "wilderness kitchen" for the show's two hosts, adventurer and professional chef Kiran Jethwa and wild food expert Valerie Segrest.

Why you should pay attention to this trend:

This reality show reflects people's growing interest in a food culture and lifestyle that is close to nature and self-reliant.

Judging from last year’s phenomenon of foraged cocktails (trend number 41 in the “Top 100 Trends for 2022”), consumers not only want to advocate a sustainable lifestyle, but are also increasingly yearning to return to nature.

Note: In China, this trend is no less prevalent than in foreign countries. We can see the traffic of various wilderness food UP hosts’ videos on Bilibili, which illustrates this point.

45. Membership-based restaurants

Exclusive dining clubs are providing a new ultra-elite dining experience. Private members clubs are merging with restaurants to offer highly personalized concierge services and premium cuisine in members-only “paywalled” restaurants.

• Haiku in Miami is an invitation-only restaurant where members must pay an annual fee and commit to booking at least four 12-course feasts per year. ZZ's Club opened its first location in Miami and has now brought the members-only restaurant concept to New York with a three-story, 25,000-square-foot space in Hudson Yards. It includes Carbone, the latest trendy Italian restaurant, as well as a Japanese restaurant and several bars, all of which are open only to members who pay an annual fee, which is only displayed upon application.
• Flyfish Club will open in Manhattan in early 2023, injecting a technological element into this membership business model to attract elite customers in the crypto-tech circle. It is a seafood-themed restaurant project launched by the hotel and restaurant group VCR, which includes two restaurants, and people can use Flyfish NFT to purchase its membership on the blockchain.
• London-based fine-dining brand Casa Cruz has taken the members-only restaurant concept a step further with a four-story New York location, where the main dining room and lounge are open to the public, but only investors who pay $250,000 can access the fourth-floor restaurant and rooftop terrace.

Why you should pay attention to this trend:

The fine-dining brand offers a new elite dining experience for the upper crust — one that prioritizes membership and exclusivity and caters to the crypto-tech community.

It should be noted that this type of restaurant is different from the VIP services in the past and pays more attention to technology.

46. ​​Web3 Winery-Traditional wineries are undergoing a round of Web3 upgrades.

The wine industry is ripe for change, with new entrants beginning to explore innovations powered by Web3.

Evinco, a California-based wine company, has formed a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) inspired by cryptocurrencies and the metaverse.

This distributed leadership model distributes ownership and decision-making power to the entire winery community, meaning that every NFT holder is a shareholder with equal voting rights on the future direction of the company.

Joy Pathak, co-founder of Evinco, told Wunderman Intelligence: “In the past, wineries hadn’t evolved beyond making wine and going direct to consumer. Gamification had never happened in the wine and spirits space. Wineries had never given consumers ownership of the brands they supported. We are taking brand loyalty and community to a new level.”

Evinco NFT holders will also gain access to exclusive products and events, and other wine companies are exploring the use of NFTs to provide additional benefits, as well as a seamless and transparent experience.

Cuvée Collective is an NFT-based wine club that provides VIP experiences and concierge services in California wine country to its token holders.

Luxury NFT marketplace BlockBar and WiV (which calls itself the world’s first blockchain-based wine investment club) are both selling their own NFTs, which are digital clones of their real-life bottles and cases.

Blockchain-powered NFTs can verify the authenticity and origin of real-world products, while also allowing wine connoisseurs to make frictionless digital transactions.

Why you should pay attention to this trend:

We predicted the rise of DAOs in our top 100 trends for 2022 and explored how the Web3 economy could offer alternative corporate hiring models.

Now, people are using DAOs to break through this boundary and reshape traditional industries using decentralization, democratization, transparency, and community ownership.

47. Three major seasonings

Local flavours and authentic cooking methods will be the main features of top ingredients in 2023.

1) Annatto

A popular Mexican culinary ingredient, annatto seeds come in many forms. The word "achiote" comes from "achiotl," the ancient Aztec language of Nahuatl.

The seasoning is described as having an earthy, tangy flavor that can color chicken and fish orange and red and enhance the flavor of dishes. Its origin is disputed, but it is mainly produced in Latin America and countries in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.

The recent popularity of the seasoning reflects a growing interest in indigenous dishes and cooking, and it is being used by emerging chefs and restaurateurs interested in incorporating traditional cooking methods and dishes into their menus.

In August 2022, Chipotle announced that it would launch a new chicken dish and use annatto seeds as one of its featured ingredients to enhance the flavor of the dish.

2) Mountain pepper

Sansho is a popular seasoning in Japanese cuisine. It has a flavor-enhancing effect and is very versatile, being added to a wide variety of dishes.

New condiment brand Cabi launched a range of Japanese-inspired ingredients and flavours in September 2022. Its three products include Zesty Sansho pepper miso, which can be added to salmon and ground meat, according to recipes on the brand's website.

Gen Z is the most diverse generation yet, driving the rise of multicultural dining, while recipes inspired by ingredients with historical and cultural significance will continue to feature on menus and in kitchens of all kinds.

3) Wintergreen tea

Made from the holly bush native to the United States, Holly is the only naturally caffeinated plant in the American continent.

Its sweet, earthy flavor was once used by Native Americans as an herbal tea and in purification ceremonies. The concoction is brewed by tea companies including Yaupon Brothers in Florida, Yaupon Tea Co in North Carolina, and CatSpring Yaupon in Texas.

BBQ RamenTatsu-ya, a new Austin, Texas, restaurant opening in October 2022, uses daicha holly in its Melo-Byrd cocktail along with lily shochu, Japanese plum wine, aperitif and plum salt.

Expect to see modern tea holly appear on more shelves and menus in 2023.

Note: There are great opportunities for China's various new consumer beverages, such as alcoholic beverages, tea beverages, soft drinks and fruit juices.

48. Cell culture dishes

As cell-cultured ingredients make their way from the lab to the grocery store, luxury restaurant brands could be the first to bring them to your table.

Cultured meat or dairy products are a promising way to produce animal protein without causing animal suffering or environmental degradation, but only recently have people finally been able to make the process cheaper.

The culture process involves extracting cells from a living animal and placing those initial cells in a growth medium inside a bioreactor so that they grow into fat and muscle.

The first lab-grown burger cost more than €200,000 in 2013, but the cost has now dropped to less than €10.

According to Crunchbase, nearly $1 billion was invested in cell-cultured meat startups around the world in 2021.

As investors flock to explore lab-grown alternative protein products, it seems no surprise that high-end restaurant brands are seeing the ingredient on their menus.

• In 2021, scientists at Osaka University used 3D printing technology to create wagyu beef with streaked fat, while Dutch scientists cultivated caviar in the lab.
• In September 2022, cell-cultured dairy startup TurtleTree hired Dominique Crenn, the star chef of the Netflix documentary Chef's Table, as its food innovation consultant. Crenn's Atelier Crenn in San Francisco is a three-Michelin-star restaurant known for its environmentally friendly pescatarian dishes and poetic menu.
• “I really think we’re going to create exciting and appetizing food again — and then we can really start this revolution,” Fengru Lin, founder and CEO of TurtleTree, which has a factory in Sacramento and is headquartered in Singapore, told the Sacramento Bee.
• In early 2022, California-based Upside Foods (best known for its cell-cultured chicken) acquired Wisconsin-based Cultured Decadence (developing indoor cultured seafood products such as lobster) to move into the high-end market. Upside Foods also reached a partnership with Crenn to add cultured chicken to Crenn's menu as soon as regulators approve the sale of such products to the public.

Why you should pay attention to this trend:

Cultured proteins are not yet commercially available, and Singapore is the only country that currently allows the sale of cultured chicken. For some consumers, their first taste of cultured food is likely to come from a fine-dining restaurant rather than a grocery store.

49. Energy-saving catering - The food and beverage industry is constantly promoting innovation to cope with the global energy crisis.

As energy prices soar in Brussels, chefs and restaurants are experimenting with stove-free, gas-free cooking methods that use little or no electricity.

• Brasserie Surrealiste serves cold cuts and lightly grilled dishes, cooked exclusively on a wood-burning charcoal grill and lit by candles on each table. Its menu includes carpaccio of white tuna, roasted pork with beans, wood-grilled focaccia and anchovy brioche.
• "The idea is to go back to the days of the cavemen," said Francesco Cury, owner of Racines, whose employees are the brasserie's waiters and chefs. "We have a range of dishes that only take a few seconds to grill."

In October 2022, a restaurant in Frodsham, England, opened without mains power, offering diners a nine-course menu and lighting their meals with candles in protest against rising electricity bills.

Next Door uses charcoal, smoking, pickling and fermentation techniques to prepare dishes, using fire to heat tea, drinks and food. Instead of using refrigerators, it uses a cellar to store ingredients and only accepts cash.

Head chef Richard Nuttall uses innovative methods to prepare each dish and store each ingredient. "We use coal to roast onions and carrots, and use fire to dehydrate herbs," he told the BBC.

Why you should pay attention to this trend:

Europe's restaurant industry is feeling the economic impact of the energy crisis, and now chefs are taking extreme measures to create new dining experiences for diners while saving money and controlling energy costs.

50. Hyper-circular design – Restaurants are adopting design concepts that recycle resources.

The restaurant environment of the future will not only focus on reducing food waste or using biodegradable materials - the entire restaurant environment will be designed in an environmentally friendly way.

Vrå is a restaurant in Gothenburg, Sweden, that uses furniture made from food waste and byproducts. Designed by local designer Carolina Härdh, the furniture is meant to help diners imagine the value that can be created by using food waste in the right way.

Härdh's stools and side tables are made from crushed shells, rice starch and fish bones, and look a lot like terrazzo - but are actually bio-based rather than cement-based.

She uses the leftover biomass as fertilizer for the restaurant’s rooftop garden or as chopstick rests for Japanese cooking.

Härdh told Dezeen that she selected the materials "based on my own research into restaurant waste bins". She hopes that sitting on and looking at the furniture "can add something different to the experience for diners, and allow them to understand the value of the food that leaves the table."

Why you should pay attention to this trend:

As sustainability initiatives continue to evolve in the food industry, there are more steps brands can take beyond reducing food waste.

Circular design in restaurants and social environments is another leap forward in the concept of environmentally friendly dining.

This article is from the official website of Wunderman Thompson: https://www.wundermanthompson.com/

Author: Brand Yuan, WeChat public account: Brand Yuan (ID: brand-yuan)