It’s hard to talk about trends without mentioning millennials.
本周，粮食科技的世界领导人聚集在IFT的年度会议和新奥尔良的食品博览会，了解行业趋势和科学发展。专注于千禧年的消费者，三位研发专业人士讨论了这一代人如何在食品创新中引领途径。以下是食品公司需要了解千禧一代的四件事。
他们是谁
海迪咖喱丹丁品牌列出了千禧一代的三个关键特征，即她的公司专注于开发千禧一代的产品：他们是技术和粮食精明，以及在制定食物采购决策时环境意识到。
Those in the millennial generation were born between the years of 1980 to 2000; a wide range that Dominique Vitry of Pizza Hut says can make product development difficult, as it covers a broad amount of consumers in various stages of their lives. But, despite this challenge, they are not to be ignored: According to Pew Research Center, an estimated 64 million millennials will be shopping the marketplace by 2020, making up roughly 50% of the US workforce.
What they value
据Christian Hallowell的Delta的食品服务计划，千禧一代对他们与品牌的总体体验非常感兴趣。这涉及与他们正在吃的食物具有高“连接”，无论是通过他们最喜欢的名人厨师之一的认可还是半定制最终产品的机会。
All three speakers agreed that millennials tend to eat a higher amount of smaller meals throughout the day, perhaps leading to the rise of snack food options on menus and in the grocery isle. But Vitry was quick to point out that this preference might change when they share meals like breakfast and dinner with their families. Tagging these consumers as “fam-llennials,” Vitry says that millennials are looking for customizable options to feed both themselves and their families.
Don’t be afraid of their advice
在开发千年代一代的产品时，所有三家公司都会从直接来源寻求帮助。雇用千禧一代，让研发部门获得关键洞察这一令人垂涎的一代，因为根据Vitry，他们非常乐意给出咨询 - 即使它反对他们为公司工作的公司的现状。vitry给了一个千禧一代的食物科学家的一个例子，以独特的投诉接近她：
“I think I can just write an app to do my job. Can I do that?”
Vitry的回复？
“Ya, and I’ll work on finding you something else to do.”
This fearlessness gives companies a fresh look at sometimes-outdated processes that may have otherwise gone unnoticed (and unchanged).
Millennials’ willingness to give advice has its downfalls though, especially when they take to social media. When a food company can’t deliver desirable trends—gluten free, 100% organic, etc.—fast enough, they’re quick to write off the brand all together, sometimes with a tweet or Facebook post.
“他们似乎没有明白推文可能对公司有什么影响，”咖喱说，“他们可能想要即时改变，但可能是不可能的。”
Their experience is more than the food
When millennials are making their purchasing decisions, they are considering a range of factors far beyond just the taste of a product. One of these factors is transparency, whether that’s with foods’ ingredients or the motivation behind a new product launch. Many millennials are hyper-aware of the ingredients listed on food labels, and would like to know the practices used in manufacturing and processing the final product. Every food, from a snack to an airline meal, is now expected to have proper labeling, including allergen information.
Millennials also have a tendency to be less nostalgic when eating. “You want to bring product familiarity, with a twist,” says Curry, when talking about developing new foods for a company. Vitry agrees, stating that Pizza Hut aims to reinvent the brand to maintain a “new” experience for the customer, while still offering the company’s classic dishes.
“想想耐克，没有人想穿1985年出来的网球鞋，”Vitry说：“你想穿最近出现的那些，因为他们为你的生活带来了技术和创新。”
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