Entrepreneurship and Startup Trends

Predicting Profitable Food Trends

Written by Jay Shapiro for Gaebler Ventures

American bake goods have hit the big time in the UK. Much of the success of the cup cake can be attributed to the TV show Sex and the City. Now UK food chains look to New York for inspiration and in the hope of predicting the food fashion trend.

Be it ever so humble the cup cake is, and has been for a good few years now, a fashionable treat amongst trendies. This is especially the case in the UK where American style cup cakes are number one in the baked goods hit parade.

Be it ever so humble the cup cake is, and has been for a good few years now, a fashionable treat amongst trendies. This is especially the case in the UK where American style cup cakes are number one in the baked goods hit parade.

Anyone who's seen the TV show Sex and the City will recall the scene where Carrie Bradshaw devours a cup in the Magnolia Bakery. The rest is history.

However lovely it was before, the cup cake has evolved dramatically and is now considered the height of sophistication. Artisan bakeries have cropped up all over London and many couples now choose to have tiers of cupcakes in place of the traditional wedding cake.

Of course the cup cake will always be around but it won't always be the top flavor of the month. Even now, food manufacturers and larger chains are brainstorming to see if they can predict what the next big thing in confection will be. Rumor has it that the humble Amish Whoopee Pie is going to going to be spruced up and marketed in the UK as the latest delight from the US. It's also forecast that Bundt cake, originally a German dessert, will be a top ranker.

UK food chain Marks and Spencer send their researchers to New York for inspiration when it comes to looking for the new taste in sweets and pastries. What's the idea behind this? It's felt that New York City has the most diverse cultural influences when it comes to cuisine, so there's food from every part of the world in one place.

Food is no longer just food, or a means to sustain. It's an accessory, a fashion item, and adapting existing recipes to suit a new audience is something manufacturers and retailers aim to do when making something up market out of humble pie.

UK based maker of grotesque cakes, Milli Vanilli, took this a step further and prides herself on the taste of her confections while confessing that they can sometimes look revolting. She's made a living out of the incongruous – creating gorgeous tasting cup cakes that unappetizing. Cakes in the form of bugs or human body parts. Her sugar craft might not appeal to the more conventional customer but it certainly goes down a treat with the more alternative crowd. Little Britain comedian David Walliams is said have ordered tiers of Vanilli's treats for his wedding.

It's probably fair to say that we'd all like a crystal ball when it comes to trying to see what will be the next big thing in any industry, let alone the baked goods market. Sound advice might be to watch what's making news in the popular TV market. Think outside the box. If Carrie Bradshaw is responsible for the current reign of the cup cake then no doubt other foods will be made the rage by other popular TV stars. What are the characters in Twilight eating, the non vampire ones that is!

Jay Shapiro is a freelance writer based in the UK. Jay has a particular interest in the emotive aspects of the entrepreneur's character. "Alongside the nuts and bolts of business, the character of the person is often the ingredient responsible for success."

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