Greenvale potato inspirations

Hassleback potatoes and loaded potato skins are two food trends set to boost the category in 2019, according to a new report.

Greenvale unveiled its first-ever food and potato trends report this week, which polled over 400 UK shoppers and both looked back at the trends of the past year and forward to the coming 12 months.

Last year was a good one for fresh baking potatoes, with 10 per cent of shoppers claiming to have eaten more over the period. Kantar data backs that up, showing category volume growth of six per cent year on year.

For 2019, of 15 new food trends predicted to grow this year the revival of Hassleback potatoes and loaded potato wedges scored well, coming in at second and fourth positions respectively in terms of products consumers would like to try.

Tracey Mattock, marketing manager at Greenvale, said “If you browse food-related websites and social media channels it won’t be long before you come across a new trend in food, predicting to change our eating habits. We wanted to investigate how many of these predictions actually manifest themselves into something that becomes part of our everyday repertoire and how many trends pass as a fad?

“The aim of the research was to discover just how potatoes may play a role in these new culinary times and remain “on trend”. As a business we want to ensure that we are able to react and respond to changing times. We want potatoes to succeed for all of our customers whilst delivering the needs of the modern consumer.”

Greenvale has also produced a short video (see below) that it is inviting customers and the wider industry to share and encourage consumers to see the versatility of potatoes.

The full copy of Greenvale's report is available here.