“To get ahead of snacking trends you must understand what the consumer drivers are,” said Suzy Badarraco, president, Culinary Tides. “Anyone can tell you what the trends are, but without understanding the drivers, you will not know the origin, longevity or trajectory of the trends. You will be flying blind.”
Badaracco will speak during the welcome and opening session of Petfood Essentials, an interactive, informal educational preconference seminar, held April 29, the day prior to the opening of Petfood Forum. Her session, “Unlocking profit potential through pet snacking foresights,” will focus on helping pet food professionals cross-analyze trend data to craft actionable intelligence, enabling informed decision-making, and develop an enhanced ability to anticipate opportunities and map pathways to ensuring the triumph of their pet snack products.
Badaracco is president of Culinary Tides, a private forecasting think tank which engages with all facets of the food industry including food service, retail, ingredient manufacturers and suppliers. She holds a bachelor's degree in criminalistics, an associate degree in culinary arts, and a master's degree in human nutrition. And she has been trained in military intelligence, chaos theory and predictive analysis techniques. Badaracco has been practicing trends intelligence and predictive forecasting for more than 18 years.
“Our analytics are designed to cross analyze dozens or hundreds of pieces or research and news items within a single diagram,” she explained. “These analytics paint a story with a beginning, middle, end – today – and future trajectory which includes explaining WHY a trend is occurring. How else would you get ahead of trends or as in my previous career – catch the bad guy?”
Using these techniques, Badaracco has been able to successfully predict and profile government, technology, adversary and ally, food, flavor, consumer, industry and health trends. Culinary Tides helps food industry partners navigate trends by revealing relevant patterns so they can create products that connect with customers, specializing in foretelling a trend’s birth and forecasting its origin, trajectory and longevity. The forecast results are used to create entrance, navigation and exit strategies.
3 drivers behind today’s pet snack trends
Based on her analytics and in-depth experience, Badarraco offered these forces influencing today’s pet snack trends for 2024:
- Owners will start using pet treats as part of the pet’s main meal.
- Sustainability is abandoned – temporarily – due to cost.
- Owners will seek functional benefits in snacks, not just indulgence.
Petfood Essentials is an interactive, informal educational pre-conference seminar, held on April 29, the day prior to the opening of Petfood Forum 2024. Suzy Badarraco, president, Culinary Tides, will open the experience with her session, “Unlocking profit potential through pet snacking foresights,” by providing an in-depth understanding of the forces driving pet snacking trends.
