Identify current and future trends and drivers in the food and drink environment

This standard is about the skills and knowledge needed for you to identify current and future trends and drivers in the food and drink environment. Recognising trends and drivers in the food and drink industry is essential in maintaining business viability in the fast moving world of consumer goods. Consumers are influenced by a huge number of factors including health, food safety, sustainability and cost. Identifying these trends and drivers is a key skill if a food and drink business is to maintain its market share, increase its market share and remain financially sustainable. You will need the skills and knowledge to gather information and evaluate it, making informed decisions about its validity and relevance. You must also have the skills and knowledge to identify the key points in the gathered information that are relevant to the trends and drivers important to your food business. This standard is for you if you work in food and drink manufacture and/or supply operations and are involved in the identification of current and future trends and drivers in the food and drink environment.

Gather information

1. identify internal and external sources of information for

   benchmarking ideas and scoping including customers, suppliers,

   regulatory authorities, competitors, different brands and additional

   sources relevant to the food and drink environment

2. gather information from a number of forms of information including

   web based sources, social media and trade fairs

3. find new, unused and innovative sources of information

4. utilise positive and negative customer feedback received either

   during development of a new product, at launch of a new product

   or through on-going dialogue with a customer

5. undertake research to source innovation and changes in

   production techniques, technical issues and raw materials

6. check information includes local, national and global issues

7. determine the relevance and validity of the data and/or

   information

   Identify key information

8. decide which information is of most relevance to identifying trends

   and drivers

9. interpret the information and determine the specific trends and

   drivers

10. rank the trends and drivers in order of most to least importance

    Collate and consult

11. collate information

12. produce a summary document

13. consult with colleagues to confirm the validity of any assumptions

    and informed decisions

14. amend summary document after consultation if required

15. conform to organisational requirements for the presentation of the

    summary document

1. source internal and external sources of information

   2. collate information relating to current and future trends and drivers

   3. why it is important to find new, unused and innovative sources of

   information and how to do this

   4. the importance of recording and evaluating customer feedback

   and how to do this

   5. why it is important to liaise with colleagues when sourcing and

   evaluating information

   6. the relative importance of local, national and global issues

   affecting trends and drivers

   7. how to determine the relevance and validity of the information

   8. how to interpret information

   9. why it is important to rank trends and drivers and how to do this

   10. the organisational methods of communication available in the food

   and drink business and how to use them

   11. how to consult with colleagues to confirm the validity of any

   assumptions and informed decisions and why it is important to do

   so