Seasonings and cooking sauces

The margarine market has become a difficult segment for some of the biggest manufacturers, leading companies like Unilever to divest their margarine portfolio following declining revenues.20 Market analysts have cited changing attitudes to fat – and butter in particular – as butter sales have risen in parallel.21 At the same time, interest in vegan alternatives to butter has helped buoy up the margarine sector, and some manufacturers have signalled their intention to reposition margarine as vegan or plant-based butter. 22

Seasonings and cooking sauces have emerged as a way for consumers to personalise simple ingredients, giving them an easy way to experience interesting or exotic flavours. Among the themes identified by Mintel are:

• Simplicity and naturalness • Healthy, diet-friendly recipes and ingredients • Tapping into restaurant trends 23

Especially during COVID-19, consumers are looking to recreate restaurant quality food at home with authentic, gourmet flavours, and seasonings and sauces provide a way to achieve this even for less proficient home cooks. Meal kit services already have tapped into this trend, and a few have collaborated with restaurants to provide an experience that is as close as possible to dining out at home.24

Cultural diversity in Europe also makes it an interesting market for sauces and seasonings with different herbs and spices, according to Euromonitor International.25 It says that the combination of flourishing ethnic cuisines and the increasing popularity of home cooking has encouraged manufacturers to expand their cooking sauce product ranges to meet demand for ethnic flavours such as Mexican and North African.26

In addition, European consumers continue to be interested in natural and organic ingredients for sauces and seasonings, bringing opportunities for manufacturers who remove ingredients like additives and preservatives. Most recently, the fastest growth has been in all-natural and organic claims27 .