Half a decade ago, everyone in food was all over startups – young, exciting companies set to disrupt the food market. A lot has happened since, of course, including Covid and the inflation spike. Startups felt the impact of both, and there has been a bit of a funding crisis to boot. Still, a lot of startups are trying to bring new ideas to the food…

Once again, RaboResearch visited the Private Label Manufacturers Association's (PLMA) World of Private Label trade show in Amsterdam. This year, we interviewed visitors and exhibitors on the topic of innovation. Innovation is high on the agenda for anyone active in packaged foods. Brands have lost market share to private label, so they need to come…

Professors David Raubenheimer and Stephen Simpson argue in their book, Eat Like the Animals, that over the course of recent decades the share of calories from protein in people's diets has declined (especially in the US). RaboResearch's Nick Fereday covered the topic in a recent report that generated quite some feedback. Therefore, we invited the p…

Once again, RaboResearch visited Natural Products Expo West, one the largest food trade shows in the world with more than 3,500 exhibitors and more than 70,000 visitors. Tom Bailey, Nick Fereday, and Cyrille Filott together with Maria Castroviejo discuss their findings, including how the consumer is being enticed by new types of marketing, some nic…

Sustainability is firmly on the food and agribusiness agenda. Companies in the sector are now moving from making a sustainability strategy to measuring and making changes in many aspects of the food system, but before making improvements, one has to establish a base. To discuss the challenges and opportunities, the team invited Hans de Gier, CEO of…

Every year the Consumer Foods-to-Go podcast provides an outlook for agri commodity prices, and this year is no different. Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott interview Carlos Mera, Rabobank’s Head of Agri Commodity Markets Research, to discuss the outlook for key crops in 2024. Overall, the outlook is for slightly lower prices, but not for all com…

Ultraprocessed foods are everywhere in the news. Some scientists are claiming that processed foods are bad for people’s health and that ultraprocessed foods are especially bad. It's time, therefore, for Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott to dig deeper in the topic with the help of Rabobank Senior Analyst Nick Fereday. In this episode we explain u…

Soon EU regulation regarding packaging and packaging waste will become law. While we are likely to see amendments to the legislation, we believe it is good to start talking about the proposed regulation and its impact on food companies. We are not talking not only about more recycling, but also about the use of recycled content, for example in drin…

Innovation is a constant in food retail. For this episode of Consumer Foods-to-Go, Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott interview Sipke van der Werf, head of innovation at SPAR in the Netherlands. What is new in innovation in retail? What is a company like SPAR thinking about right now and with a five-year horizon? Obviously, growth and cost contro…

The Private Label Manufacturing Association (PLMA) trade show in Amsterdam is the largest private label event in the world. As always, the Rabobank consumer foods team pays a visit. And, like last year, we asked companies in attendance for their views. Last year we spoke mostly about challenges in the supply chain. This year we talked about the gai…

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach to improving farming practices. Many downstream food companies are talking about encouraging regenerative agriculture practices at the farm level. They do this for various reasons: to achieve emissions reduction goals, to provide better food in general, and to stay within planetary boundaries. In this…

Launched in 2017, Nutri-Score is a front-of-pack label to indicate a food product’s nutritional value. Quite a few food retailers and food companies have embraced Nutri-Score, but how consumers are responding to scores has remained unknown. In this podcast, Consumer Foods-to-Go interviews Elke Godden, a researcher who has explored this topic at the…

Rabobank's Consumer Foods research team visited Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, one of the largest food shows in the world. It's always fantastic to walk the floor and see new trends and products with your own eyes, and this year was no different! In this episode, the team shares their insights from the event together with hosts Cyrille Filo…

2022 may not have been the year the foodservice industry hoped for, but the post-Covid recovery was still quite strong. 2023 will be a year of continued uncertainty. Commodity prices are declining, but are still higher than in 2021. Consumers were fairly resilient in 2022, but it is unclear how they will behave in 2023 as economies may struggle to …

Deflation of input costs is happening across the food sector, but the cost of labor is actually going to increase... by a lot. There are two main drivers behind this increase: 1) a catch-up effect related to high inflation in 2022 and 2) low unemployment. Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott quiz Rabobank economist Elwin de Groot on what may happen…

It is the time of the year to look back at 2022 and look toward 2023. Maria and Cyrille gathered the entire team of Consumer Foods analysts at RaboResearch to discuss the learnings from the year for the sector. And what a year it was! They also talk about next year. What should be on the corporate agenda? What will happen to sustainability? Anythin…

In terms of prices and price volatility, 2022 was an incredible year for agri commodities. The conflict in Ukraine, adverse weather conditions, and currencies impacted prices a lot. What will happen in 2023? Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott quiz Head of Agri Commodity Markets Research Carlos Mera on what's in store for 2023. They talk about the…

Resilience is the buzzword in the food sector. Companies are very focused, in the short term, on preserving margins by shifting resources around and by being very aware of input costs and pricing toward customers. Many of the challenges that are impacting performance in the short run will also be important factors in planning for the long run. Comp…

Michael Every joined the Consumer Foods-to-Go podcast a couple of times before to discuss inflation and the impact of the war in Ukraine on the food sector. Due to popular demand, Cyrille Filott and Maria Castroviejo invited Michael back. During the podcast, Michael shares his (gloomy) outlook for the geopolitical landscape and how any shifts might…

Prices for transportation – across land and sea alike – skyrocketed in the last couple of years due to a boom in demand during the pandemic and, more recently, disruptions from the war in Ukraine. It's time to assess what might happen next. In this podcast, Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott quiz analysts Xinnan Li and Viet Nguyen about what's ha…

Manufacturers from around the globe gathered in Amsterdam at the end of May to showcase their products at the Private Label Manufacturers Association trade show. Sebastiaan Schreijen and Cyrille Filott were on the scene asking food & beverage producers about the hot topic of the moment: the supply chain. Sebastiaan and Cyrille asked five exhibitors…

Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott discuss how higher food prices impact the consumer right now and in the remainder of the year. They discuss what usually happens when disposable incomes shrink, and how this time, at least up to now, is different.

During the pandemic, the branded chains were the ones taking share in foodservice. Most of these chains work with franchisees. These franchisees have become very professional over the years, and they generate quite a bit of cash. So what is in store for franchising now that Covid seems to be largely behind us? Cyrille Filott discusses this question…

Expo West is one of the largest food trade shows in the world, and after a two-year hiatus, it was back on the calendar in early March. The food industry went in droves to Anaheim, where the show is held. RaboResearch F&A was present as well, with three analysts in attendance: JP Frossard, Nick Fereday, and Tom Bailey. In this episode of Consumer F…

The Ukraine conflict is, and will remain, headline news. The Consumer Foods-to-Go podcast has two goals: to bring the audience something new or to discuss something top of mind. To state the obvious – the war is top of mind for everyone, even for those in the food sector. As Rabobank is keen to provide perspectives, Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Fi…