November 2011/Prepared Foods -- Marketers and developers often ponder trends on a macro level, poring over demographics and similar data, in hopes of discovering what the future may hold and what will capture the attention of that future consumer group. Often, however, it can be as simple as looking to the past. Sure, not all trends are destined to repeat themselves, but it is curious how every couple of decades a particularly notable one will re-emerge. Remember leggings in the 1980s? Those began to return a couple of years ago--and with a vengeance, particularly considering how America’s obesity problem has grown virtually unabated.
Regardless, as the first year of the 2010s draws to a close, it may well be time to look back to the 1990s for inspiration--and not solely for a trip down