Watch: Phil Lempert Shares Insights on Food’s Past and Present

While many industry leaders consider themselves experts on the packaged food world, there is only one “guru” — and that’s “Supermarket Guru” and Consumers Insights president and CEO Phil Lempert.

Lempert, an expert analyst on consumer behavior, marketing trends, new products and the changing retail landscape, has worked to identify and explain impending trends to consumers and companies for more than 25 years. During November’s NOSH Live Winter business conference in Santa Monica, Calif., he shared his thoughts on the food industry’s evolution in 2017, and how he thinks it will shape future growth and innovation in the new year.

Lempert shared with more than 250 attendees two keys to survival in food’s increasingly competitive space: focus on who your consumers are and where they are shopping. For brands, he also noted the importance of taste, even in products catering to more functional food trends like neuro-nutrition.

“How good does brain health have to taste?” Lempert said. “It has to taste great… Consumers are smarter than ever. [Products] have to have great taste and bulletproof science.”

For more insights on the future of food, watch Lempert’s full presentation above.