What Is the Food Trend Forecasting Hub “SSU Food Trend Lab”? An Explanation Based on 2021 Valentine’s Day Case Studies

Hello, everyone. I am Fukui from the food trend forecasting hub “SSU Food Trend Lab.”

Keeping up with cutting-edge trends is an essential requirement for PR professionals. If so, why not create the trends ourselves? That idea led to the launch of “SSU Food Trend Lab.” In this article, we will introduce our activities—previously never fully revealed—based on a 2021 Valentine’s Day case study.

What Is SSU Food Trend Lab?

SSU Food Trend Lab is a team that shares food-related trend forecasts several times a year.

Cherry-blossom-pink spring sweets, refreshing summer sweets that feel cool, autumn gourmet treats packed with sweet chestnuts, and colorful Christmas cakes that are fun just to look at…

Food is a category in which companies roll out a wide variety of appealing products and menus throughout the year. While there are several trends each year, product directions differ by company, and the media also struggles to find the right “angle” needed for planning features.

In response, we proactively identify food trend topics likely to become buzzworthy by leveraging SSU’s unique media network and other resources, define the direction of trends to highlight, and propose menu development. We operate with the aim of turning these into widely discussed topics as leading-edge trends.

Our 2021 Valentine’s Day Forecast: “Valentine’s Day × the New Normal”

With menu development proposals, product development, and launch schedules in mind, we present proposals to internal members about seven months before the relevant season. For the 2021 Valentine’s Day trend forecast, we made our internal proposal in July 2020.

When it comes to topics that impacted the food and beverage industry in 2020–2021, the biggest were the spread of COVID-19 and the resulting “new normal.” As of July, when we made the proposal, there was some sense that infections might subside following the lifting of the state of emergency; however, SSU Food Trend Lab predicted that even seven months later, during the Valentine’s Day season, new lifestyles and consumption styles that avoid contact would remain. Based on changes in consumers’ lifestyles and media reporting trends, we forecast that Valentine’s Day 2021 would give rise to an unprecedented form of Valentine’s Day adapted to the “new normal.”

We invited a leading food writer as an advisor and refined our forecast while receiving guidance on the trends predicted by SSU Food Trend Lab. We then shared our carefully crafted trend forecast, endorsed by an expert who is also active in the media.

Here is the 2021 Valentine’s Day trend forecast we actually proposed.

We anticipated that, even if it became difficult to meet casually and communicate in person, there would be demand for items that can be sent easily and safely via posting systems. Chocolate, in particular, includes many options such as thin chocolate bars that are less likely to lose their shape, making it well suited to posting gifts. For these reasons, we considered “posting chocolate” to be a style especially suited to the new normal.

As a result, “chocolate you can mail”—on which you can write a message directly and affix a stamp—was released by department stores and well-known chocolate brands, gained exposure across many media outlets, and became a trend symbolizing Valentine’s Day 2021.

Future Trend Forecasts Will Be Shared on “SUNNY DAYS”!

Although this article introduced only one case study, we plan to continue announcing trend forecasts by season, such as spring and summer gourmet trends.

We will be sharing updates on “SUNNY DAYS,” so please look forward to it.

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