The not-so-secret secret ingredients to creating compelling content: passion, personal values and relatable experience.

I find myself in a peculiar yet exciting situation. I am a millennial following a plant-based lifestyle. I am passionate about and support the 2050 Vision “Living in harmony with nature”. And I am a marketer working in a food-tech industry during the time when the Millennials and Gen Z’s are driving the demand for more environmentally-responsible food products. I am, by all definitions, a part of that demographic… And so, to be successful at what I do, I find myself tapping into the values I personally hold dear to create and share relatable content and stories that would resonate with me if I were to market to myself.

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Restaurants Canada Show 2020 - Toronto's largest restaurant and foodservice trade show. Throughout the event, I listened to speaker and panel presentations featuring local restaurant owners, foodie bloggers and influencers, and experts from industry leaders such as Open Table, TouchBistro, NPD Group, Dalhousie University and many others. 

The major theme across many talks was focused around the changing food buying trends of the current generations: Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z. While Boomer buying habits when it comes to what they eat, where they eat and how, are still very traditional and largely unaffected by ethnic cuisines and/or plant-based movements, Millennials and Gen Z are doubling down on the following decision factors:

• Health, not just personal but also the environmental - how does what I eat affect my health and the health of the planet?
• Transparency of where the food is grown, processed and prepared - is there a clear path of how the meal on my plate was sourced and cooked?
• Efforts in eliminating plastic pollution and single-use packaging - are the brands that I'm buying making enough effort to curtail their waste and run socially conscious operations?

All these, and more, are impacting the way the foodservice industry is sourcing, preparing and serving food today. For example, farms are becoming more and more transparent about their growing and processing procedures with activists and on social media. This unprecedented level of transparency is increasing accountability and forcing change upon dated operations.

Without consciously realizing it, but over the last few years I have been actively participating and contributing to this shift in how my generation perceives the food we eat and the burden our food processing has on the environment. 

Almost 5 years ago, I decided to become more informed and conscious about the impact of my personal eating habits. After studying a few books, reading countless articles and watching several documentaries on the subject, I made this life-altering change, very positive in my mind, that not only affected my dinner table, but also my family's. I realized that through my buying power I have the means to affect change on a larger scale than just my dinner table.

Roughly 40% of North Americans are working on including more vegan ingredients into their diets. *

Back then the vegan culture was steadily gaining traction, and "plant-based" was a relatively new term. Over the last 12 months, I observed the plant-based movement pick up steam and plow through the fabric of today’s food culture. From artisan corner gourmet shops to all-vegan sushi restaurants to big Fast Service Restaurant (FSR) chains, I watched vegan, plant-based, gluten-free and other dietary options explode across menu pages. Restaurants are now getting more creative with special options because that part of the menu is quickly becoming mainstream with the Millennial and Gen Z restaurant goers.

About 57% of Millennials said they follow a special diet citing such reasons as healthier choice (67%), weight loss (53%), health concerns (48%), better for environment (44%) and ethical reason (37%). *

The challenge here is not the change itself. The challenge is to find a way to adjust brand narratives in the shifting context and tell stories that resonate with today’s consumer. Brands that do not adapt to the changing market fast enough will very likely begin to struggle to stay relevant to the changing consumer needs.

 “The only constant in life is change,” Heraclitus.

As I continue learning about the shifts in the foodservice industry, I begin to realize that the health and environmental concerns that made me make my choice all those years ago are mirrored in hundreds and thousands of young people like me. 

Even though I work in the marketing field, I don't consider myself a marketer - to me the term lacks authenticity and personability. Instead, I consider myself a storyteller. Many may agree that the most compelling stories are generally ingrained with personal experiences. My own story of discovering my new lifestyle embodies the values both I and consumers like me uphold. And so, I find myself reaching for what I hold close to my heart to identify and create stories that people like me would find valuable, educational and relevant.

Slide images from "Look who is coming to dinner: Learn how to reach today’s changing demographics". Presenters Jo-Ann McArthur, President, Nourish Food Marketing; Margot Swindal, Director, Business Development at Technomic Inc.; Sylvain Charlenbois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University.