Maeve Webster has been a foodservice industry consultant for more than 17 years, running hundreds of studies focused on trend analysis, opportunity assessment, new product concept development, and consumer behavior evaluation. In 2015, Webster founded an independent consultancy, Menu Matters, which helps foodservice professionals identify, evaluate, and leverage industry trends. Readers may contact her at menumattersnow@gmail.com.

Food, Beverage Menu Innovation Shifts to Embrace 'Instagrammability'

Food and beverage innovation has as much focus on visual appeal as on any other attribute

Maeve Webster

March 4, 2019

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Perhaps the most significant effect social media has had on the food industry involves the visual narrative around food and beverages.

How Will Gen Z Consumers Affect Food?

It's too early to say—but they are different than Millennials

Maeve Webster

November 5, 2018

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After a decade or more of focusing largely on the needs, preferences, and behaviors of Millennials, the food industry is ready to focus its attention on Gen Z.

Most Commonly Menued Terms Suggesting Authenticity

Manufacturers Explore Challenges of "Authentic" Food Tastes, Experiences

Traditional Tastes

Maeve Webster

July 20, 2018

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For the last several years, there's been a culinary shift and belief that food derived from foreign cultures should seek to be authentic or feature authentic elements.

Pink Drink from Starbucks' 2017 "Cups of Kindness" Collection

Inspiring Food Product Development from Beyond Industry Borders

Look beyond the menu—and even outside food—for new product ideas

Maeve Webster

April 10, 2018

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For the industry to truly be innovative, and continue to be relevant well beyond the Millennial boom, insights professionals will need to look well outside of food to better anticipate consumers' changing relationship with food.

Formulating In-Demand Snacks: How to Create the Textures Consumers Want Today

Texture is what takes a snack from “one of many” to “one of a kind.” In this webinar, you’ll learn how specialty starch-based texturizers can make a sheeted or baked snack’s texture loud and crunchy or light and crispy — and how achieving that just-right texture can help your healthier snack stand out in a competitive marketplace.

You’ve made the decision to go with plant-based nutrition in your product. But if you’re like most people, you’ve struggled with the issues it presents in formulating a great product – particularly at higher protein levels or in gluten-free applications.

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Prepared Foods

2019 April

Check out the April 2019 issue of Prepared Foods, featuring our cover story on RTD coffee and tea drinks and ingredients, trends that are shaping the future of desserts, emerging botanical ingredients, and much more.

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