Dear Mr. Mustermann,
Are you more of an epicurean - or do you simply eat because you're hungry?
Either way, you may be interested in what will end up on our plates in the future.

Matthias Horx's Zukunftsinstitut has analyzed developments in the food market and derived 4 key trends. Here's a little appetizer about it.

Read today from the "Strategies for Future Makers" series:

Part 6: Food trends between economy and ecology
From the article by Hanni Rützler, pioneer of nutritional science and speaker at the Zukunftsinstitut.
The increasing complexity of our global economic system and the uncertainty regarding future developments are intensifying the longing for simplicity, familiarity, deceleration, certainty, responsibility and morality. This certainly creates opportunities for agriculture, the food industry, gastronomy and trade!
Initially, the weakening of the economy and growing fears about the future will be reflected in greater price sensitivity for food. In the medium term, this will lead to a further polarization of food markets: SOMAs versus LOHAS! This means, on the one hand, the expansion of the discount segment, including social markets, and, on the other hand, the increased supply of quality foods in line with the LOHAS movement (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability).

Food trend 1: Terroir - the longing for familiarity, proximity and security
Regional products are booming again. Not only because of the trust bonus they enjoy in terms of authenticity, transparency and quality, but also because their distribution is considered more environmentally friendly and they support regional value creation. This trend benefits farmers' markets, small delicatessens or traditional craft businesses such as bakeries, butchers or cheese dairies, which are once again turning to old recipes and developing them in innovative ways. International retail chains are also responding with special offers. And the gastronomy sector, too: from inns to gourmet restaurants - there is an increasing focus on regional products and recipes as well as close cooperation with local producers. Dishes that promise holistic utilization ("nose to tail") are also making their way onto the modern menu.

Food trend 2: Communal cooking - cooking together as a comfort
In an increasingly abstract, nonsensical and fast-paced everyday life, the tradition of eating and drinking together is experiencing an unexpected comeback as a social factor that creates community and meaning. Invitation and counter-invitation - once dismissed as stuffy - are now enjoying new popularity. And also save the wallet! In contrast to the past, however, people now also like to reach for convenience products, especially chilled food.

Food trend 3: Trusted food - transparent production
Food markets are always markets of trust. Decisive competitive advantages will therefore be enjoyed by those who position themselves clearly and credibly throughout the entire performance: clear, offensive, clean product declaration; regular verification by consumer protection, governmental and independent organizations; complete traceability of raw materials and their further processing. However, it will be important not to act á la pharmacy package inserts, but to accept the challenge with relish and creativity. For example, in the form of show factories or product codes for individual online tracking of his lamb steak back to the sheep farm.

Food trend 4: Pleasure food - the simplicity of true luxury
Feelings of guilt towards the environment and social inequality are leading to an increased rejection of waste. But the oversupply of status foods such as champagne, caviar, lobster and the like has also led to old-style luxury goods and ostentatious consumption of prestige losing ground. The New Luxury are simple but rare, particularly authentic or historical products. Intangible pleasures such as a forgotten recipe, a special old type of flour,... Luxury food of the future is therefore the special - not necessarily the expensive. Natural Winners will be concepts that combine a source product that is perceived as healthy with ethical added value, or health with tradition and innovative and new interpretations.
You can also subscribe to or read about the future series on our website www.reichlundpartner.at.

In the search for markets with future potential, there is simply no getting around the healthcare sector. Aging on the one hand and the desire for eternal youth on the other will open up entirely new business areas. The wellness boom was just the beginning. Trend researcher Matthias Horx's Zukunftsinstitut has answers to the question of what will happen next.

Read today from the "Strategies for Future Makers" series:

Part 7: The future market of health - personal responsibility, individualization, effectiveness
From the article by Jeanette Huber, member of the management team and futurologist at the Zukunftsinstitut.
In times of crisis in particular, people take even greater care of their health, eat more healthily, exercise more and exhibit less risky behaviour in everyday life. Health care therefore remains a strong market, but under changed auspices:

Personal responsibility for health
Rising healthcare costs, education and interest combined with the desire for a second lease of life in the best-ager age group are changing consumer awareness. More and more often, patients at risk begin to actively change their condition at an early stage: live more consciously, become active, change their entire behavior with regard to diet, exercise and stress management. Providers in the health sector must therefore transform themselves from retroactively repairing "health craftsmen" to "trainers of better body knowledge." This also holds good opportunities for pharmacies in particular. As a "health coach," they can differentiate themselves from pill sales on the Internet and in drugstores.
 
Individualization of the healthcare market
1. Service and niche: tomorrow's patients want to be catered for in their personal lifestyle. Practices with lounge flair, hypnosis instead of anaesthesia, hospitals with a wine list and selected dishes, root canal treatment at the airport gate, homeopathy instead of pills, complementary medicine instead of pure conventional medicine ...
2. Self-determination and responsibility: "Health Home Delivery" - health, recovery and care in your own four walls - promising markets are already emerging around this topic: from mobile health and care services to medical technology for the living room. In the future, therefore, medical technology customers will also include private individuals: Paternity tests for skeptical men, drug screens for worried mothers, the HeartStart Home from Philips .... And soon the personal health assistant in your cell phone could save you a trip to the doctor or support remote diagnoses.
3. Treatment according to gene code, not 08/15: Today, medication only works for 60% of all people who take it. In the future, genetically tailored drugs will significantly increase accuracy (such as the breast cancer drug Herceptin, which is only prescribed to patients with a certain gene disposition). The era of global blockbusters and 08/15 therapies is thus coming to an end.

Efficiency
The healthcare market will continue to be financed either by the cash-strapped solidarity community or by price-sensitive self-payers. Real-world treatment outcomes are therefore playing an increasingly important role, alongside hard-nosed quality and price controls. Hospitals are already exposed to relentless evaluation by patients, e.g., on www.weisse-liste.de or www.medmonitor.de. This is a development to which the entire healthcare industry must adapt.

As the final part of our information series brought to you from the Future Congress in Frankfurt, today we would like to turn to many people's favorite topic: vacations. Specifically, the future market of tourism.

Read today from the "Strategies for Future Makers" series:

Part 8: Future market tourism - creativity and concepts instead of traditional shackles and impatience
From the article by Harry Gatterer, founder of the Lifestyle Foundation in Kufstein.

According to a study conducted by the Metis Institute in August 2008, Austria's tourism businesses are uncreative. Compared with other industries, they occupy the lowest ranks. Yet creativity is more in demand than ever, especially now at the transition from industrialization to the individualization of tourism!
A study by consultants Kohl & Partner revealed 5 main indicators of a creeping threat to tourism regions: too strong a connection to tradition, confusion of caution with indecision, complacency, exaggerated expectations and a lack of patience.
In future, it will depend very much on how cleverly existing structures are used and how old competition boundaries are dissolved. Because the great potential for the next few years lies in the many niches beyond package tours.

Education megatrend: Tourists increasingly crave value-added vacations where they can combine the enjoyable with the useful. For example, knowledge hotspots become tourist destinations where you can experience innovations live. A good example of this is the Austrian municipality of Güssing, which has triggered a veritable educational tourism with its concept for self-sufficient energy supply for the region. The energy project and research center attract over 20,000 people every year - benefiting the municipality, hotels, restaurants and retailers from the entire region.
The cult of exercise and health: exercise is in! In times of crisis, when everything seems threatening, one's own well-being becomes all the more important. Against this backdrop, healthcare offerings in particular will be able to expand their strong position in the travel market. But here, too, it's the special, unique experiences that count. Such as a guided crossing of the Alps by mountain bike - to a well-deserved glass of red wine at Lake Garda.

The new search for meaning: Especially in times of upheaval, the desire for spiritual support and post-material values is growing again in our secularized world. Thus, "vacation in the monastery" is becoming increasingly popular. At www.kloesterreich.at, you'll find offerings like "Discovering Silence." The longing behind it: Life should be simpler but rich. The Centro d'Ompio seminar center near Lake Maggiore has also focused on spiritual journeys of discovery and was already virtually booked out for 2009 the previous year.

Unique pleasure experience trip: Pleasure travel that caresses the soul instead of status symbol travel, small moments of pampering instead of 5-star hotel. In times of crisis, people return to the essential, the unique. An interesting growth market therefore lies in individual, charming enjoyment experiences for in between. For example, the 65 German "brewery inns" entice visitors with home-brewed beer culture & hospitality. An online beer finder will whet your appetite in advance.
This was the last part of our "future series". We hope we were able to arouse your interest with one or the other topic and give you new ideas. By the way, you can read the entire future series at www.reichlundpartner.at.

With best regards

Renate Lugmayr
Strategic Planner, Reichl und Partner