goodbye 2023, hello 2024

Bringing 2023 to a close with my final newsletter of the year, today we’re covering foodie news, 2024 predictions and 2023 takeaways. Let’s get into it:

Foodie news:

1. Softside (the popular softserve spot in Noho known for its olive oil soft serve) has turned into Soupside for the winter and will be featuring seven talented chef collaborations starting 1/9. At first I was hesitant this would be a success, but I think it’s super strategic building off a similar momentum created by Erewhon’s smoothie bar collaborations.

2. Speaking of Erewhon, celebrity smoothies were huge in 2023 and will no doubt continue into 2024, despite their ridiculous $18 price tag.

   • Olivia Rodrigo is the latest erewhon collab with her “Good 4 ur Guts” smoothie

3. Liquid Death was threatened with legal action over one of its newest products, an iced tea beverage titled “Armless Palmer”. Their response was untraditional but on brand for the $500 million company

4. Chipotle went viral… again… for this napkin holder

5. The yogurt company Chobani has acquired La Colombe for $900,000,000 - wow. This felt right to me, every time I’ve gone to La Colombe I’ve always noticed they use Chobani dairy products and both companies have stores next to each other in Soho. A+ for authenticity from me.

2024 predictions

• Cafecore: at-home coffee stations are quickly becoming the next big thing. Bye bye bar carts.

  • Searches for everything from "cafe chalkboard" aesthetic and "coffee station decor" to "coffee bar styling” are up nearly +1000% on Pinterest

  • I am totally on board with this & have definitely see the ripple effect of it begin on social media already. I feel like people are getting really into making their coffee at home - Aloni Matzon coffee videos are my major inspo.

• Kitschens: I think this will pop off in 2024. Searches for retro and eccentric kitchen styling are up about 100% across Pinterest.

  • I see this coming to life through super popular aesthetic appliances like this Smeg toaster and the christmas tree bow trend but also through influencers like Wishbone Kitchen. She could be the kitschen poster child.

• Could 2024 be the year everyone goes vegan?

  • According to Instagram predictions Gen Z might be paving the plant based path, with 45% saying they are interested in vegan products, and 42% saying they are interested in trying plant based meat.

  • Kraft NotMac&Cheese (newest vegan mac option) is proving this could be true for 2024, but to be honest I’m a bit skeptic. I feel like all the wellness trends of 2023 have pushed people away from trendy over-processed artificial options into whole foods/animal proteins. Time will tell!

• Towards the end of 2023 I started seeing “sleepytime mocktails” everywhere and feel like they will be a huge hit in 2024

  • Every version I saw had some variation of magnesium powder, tart cherry juice and optional probiotic soda (like Poppy or Olipop)

• Dry January will be bigger than ever

  • Young adults today are less likely to drink than young adults two decades ago – but older adults are more likely to do so, according to Gallup.

• More fast casual restaurants will go seed oil free, following in Sweetgreen’s footsteps.

  • On 10/18 Sweetgreen tweeted “Starting 10/24, all of our protein, veggies, and grains will be cooked in extra virgin olive oil—a commitment that’s never been made by a restaurant at our scale”

  • Seed oil slander is all over the internet (rightfully so) and won’t be going away anytime soon. Brands that appeal to fitness/health enthusiasts are going to have to put their money where their mouth is soon

Rapid fire 2023 trend review/highlight reel:

• Girl Dinner - I personally don’t relate to this one but support the girlies who do

  • According to TikTok, where the trend has more than 30 million views, girl dinner is akin to an aesthetically pleasing Lunchable: an artfully arranged pile of snacks that, when consumed in high enough volume, constitutes a meal. Or so the thinking goes.

• Barbie core (I know this one is obvious but feel like it really did permeate into so many areas of life)

• End of year “in” and “out” lists (like this one)

• Tinned Fish - Fishwife won this one

• Abandoning Oat Milk & opting for regular dairy or other alternative milks

  • There’s been a lot of slander against Oatly in particular

• Olive oil coffee - this is still a no for me

  • The olive oil craze in general - soaring popularity from brands like Graza

• Hyperfixating on grocery stores (hello Erewhon and Wegman’s)

• Cottage cheese - this was everywhere and anywhere (egg bites, cookie dough, pasta)

• Plateless everything

  • Think parchment paper dinner parties (below), butter boards, christmas charcutree, basically any and every excuse to serve food without plate

    

    parchment paper dinner parties will be huge in 2024. no doubt.

See you in 2024!