You turn to your ingredient suppliers for safe, quality and economical solutions to your formulation or reformulation challenges. Nearly all ingredient suppliers can check those boxes, so how do you choose the right one to work with?

When it comes to the ingredients in their foods and beverages, consumers are keeping it real. Menu trends showcased at the 2016 National Restaurant Association Show reflect a continued appetite for simple, all-natural foods and holistic eating experiences that include comfort foods once considered “off limits” in a healthy diet.

There was a time when butter was perceived as an “enemy” of the heart- and health-conscious. While dietary moderation remains key, the long-held belief has changed. Consumers now clamor for “natural” foods and fats, and their purchase decisions are driving a butter renaissance that has netted 2016 sales totaling $2.8 billion. Compare that against $1.4 billion in vegetable oil-based margarine sales over the same period, and butter’s popularity is anything but spread thin.

If there’s one thing that signals the start of fall in the U.S., it’s the introduction of seasonal pumpkin dishes and drinks at restaurants around the country. But while pumpkin has long been seen as the king of fall, quick service restaurants (QSRs) and casual dining brands are also trying to incorporate non-pumpkin flavors and trends into their fall menu offerings to entice consumers. From the flavor of caramel apples to hearty soups and sauces - even dishes with carved turkey and cranberries - plenty of new fall-themed recipes will be hitting menus in late August and early September.

There are very few grocery stores that don’t have a hot bar or ready-made food section these days. In fact, some grocery stores have even added “grocerants”, where they offer restaurant-quality food in a part grocery store, part restaurant setting. According to a recent consumer survey, more than half of the respondents said they had purchased food at the fresh prepared-food counter of the grocery store before, with prepared foods becoming a $29 billion-a-year business—growing twice as fast as overall grocery store sales.

Food manufacturers, raise your hands if you’ve reformulated one of your applications within the last year. Is your hand raised? If so, you’re in the majority. According to a recent survey by Deloitte and the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), 66% of companies reformulated one or more of their products in 2016, with 180,000 of those reformulations designed to support the growing trend towards healthier diets and lifestyles. As consumers continue to look for healthier choices, the pressure is on to meet their desires with the foods and beverages they’ve come to know and love.

If you haven’t noticed the growing variety of nut and seed butters on the market, you haven’t been paying close enough attention. Protein is the hottest trend in the food and beverage industry, and today’s health-conscious, on-the-go consumers are looking at new peanut butter alternatives to give them the same protein-rich spread, and they’re finding it in almond, sunflower and cashew butters, to name just a few.

With today’s busy consumers on the lookout for healthy grab-and-go snacks, protein-packed bars, cookies, and other snack options have exploded in popularity over the past few years. Whether it’s a crunchy peanut butter protein bar or nutty trail mix with yogurt-covered raisins, consumers are concerned about the healthiness of the snacks they’re eating, with 30% of Americans claiming to only snack on healthy foods.

Yogurt is the “food of the decade” according to The NPD Group, a marketing research company, with a number of organizations reporting impressive statistics to back up that claim. According to Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer (2016):