]About KUNUA 

]KUNUA] is your best friend, advisor and your right hand if you wish to shine within any of those product areas:

• Delicatessen
• Baked Goods
• Nutrients
• Snacks
• Frozen Products

]Do you want to tailor them according to your idea? And you want them organic? You’ll find KUNUA’s team ready. It’s a place where tradition meets innovation, as KUNUA’s founder, Manuel Rauch, said himself:

]“]KUNUA is your best contact if you want to establish INNOVATIVE FOOD TRENDS in the German & European markets! We offer customers traditional, innovative, and promising products with the potential to grow. As a provider of ideas and concepts, our top priority is product quality! For this reason, only very well-chosen and delicious products find their way into our assortment.]” 

]KUNUA’s innovative spirit requires not only open-mindedness but also analytical thinking and strategy. I’ll allow myself to drop one more quote here:

]“](...) Many speakers fall into the trend-chasing trap. They see a hot topic and scramble to position themselves as experts. But by the time a trend is obvious, it's often too late. The market is saturated, and you're just another voice in the crowd. (...)]” ~ credits to ]Maria Franzoni, a Founder of Speaking Business Academy 

]Even though Maria refers here to business speakers, I think it creates a perfect analogy to KUNUA’s strategy that drives their success. Those who follow the trends, may never really make it to the top. The ones who predict and set them, however, will always be one step ahead. What challenges do you have to consider, not to stay behind? What opportunities? What are the current trends in the food industry? We are happy to provide you with answers enriched by insights from KUNUA’s founder, who’s also Torg’s verified supplier.

]Top challenges that the food industry can expect in the coming years

]We asked Manuel, what challenges he needs to face these days within his market. His answer was: high volatility of raw materials prices during the year and food fraud.

]High Volatility of Raw Materials Prices

]During the last few years, we have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and ]geopolitical tensions]. In those critical moments, ]all the supply chains’ vulnerabilities have been exposed leading to troubles with transport delays and labor], among many others. It’s more than enough to cause ]shortages of different raw materials], and as a consequence lead to drastically increased prices. Moreover, climate change-related events have also started causing troubles, especially with crop yields and livestock production. How does it impact innovation within the food industry? It depends. ]Cost management and pricing strategies challenges,] definitely do not encourage investing in experimental projects. On the other hand, critical situations like this have always pushed adaptation. I believe that Darwin would agree with me saying that adaptation is a form of innovation, that helps us survive. In the case of the food industry, it could be, for instance, ]reformulating products with alternative ingredients or improving supply chain resilience]. Therefore, depending on the circumstances, we can choose to see situations like this as either the glass half full or half empty.

]Food Fraud

]Have you ever heard of a business that deceives its customers about the quality or content of the food they sell to gain an advantage? It’s called a ]food fraud]. A very straightforward example would be diluting honey with other sweeteners, or selling a mix of dyed herbs in a package of and in a price of saffron. The estimated cost implications of food fraud for the global food industry is between 30 up till 40 billion dollars annually! Additionally, practices like that violate the trust of consumers. As a result, they may be less open to new products entering the market. Rebuilding that trust definitely takes time, and requires as much transparency as possible.

]These are just two out of many factors one should be aware of to effectively protect themselves from or prepare for combating challenges. Like any other industry, the food industry faces its obstacles. However, each market also presents opportunities which, when recognized and leveraged, can help overcome these challenges and may even drive innovation. Manuel from KUNUA also shared his insights regarding the opportunities and trends within the German market, as well as what he considers “decisive success factors”.

]Be on the lookout for opportunities and trends

]KUNUA operates within the European market, with a particular focus on the German market. After having grown within that market for a little bit over a decade, they know how to move around it and anticipate trends. KUNUA has acknowledged and leveraged good connections to retailers in Germany, as well as accessibility of production facilities all over the world, ensuring their flexibility and a great environment to further develop and innovate. This broad network allows KUNUA to offer a broad range of services:

• Procurement & product development: thanks to relationship-building over many years and strategic partnerships, KUNUA has established a global supplier network that allows them to meet their customers’s requirements concerning product customization and private label projects.
• Quality management: conducted by a highly qualified team strengthened through KUNUA’s cooperation with IFS/BRC-certified production facilities.
• Logistics: KUNUA also offers distribution solutions ranging from supply chain management and warehousing to the precise planning of demand quantities.
• Market research and enhanced sales: KUNUA is very proactive and anticipates food trends. Their secret is a team of innovation scouts, who operate throughout Germany and are constantly on the lookout for trends. This is how KUNUA is your source of new ideas which will help you grow and satisfy, or even positively surprise, your customers.

]Speaking of trends, Manuel also pinpointed what kinds of food are now very popular in Germany, that KUNUA has been monitoring and acting on, which is also noticeable in their rich and diversified product portfolio. The top 3 trends in question are:

1. High protein products: Germany is one of Europe’s biggest sports markets, which has created a big demand for fitness nutrition products.
2. Organic products: According to FiBL data from 2021, Germany was the biggest organic food market in Europe and the second-largest organic market worldwide after the USA. 
3. Gluten-free products: The increase in demand for gluten-free products in Germany has been driven by increased awareness of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, as well as a general perception of gluten-free diets as healthier.

]With that being said, these 3 areas of food production are worth tapping into, if you wish to meet the needs of German customers. Looking at the big picture, KUNUA shows that having a proactive approach, acknowledging possible challenges and anticipating opportunities within your market brings great and long-term effects. Not only does KUNUA provide great flexibility to develop your projects, but also their expertise and priceless knowledge of how to set the trends instead of blindly following them. 

]To sum it up, Manuel phrased the key learnings in the form of 3 “decisive success factors”, which are the following: 

• ]Long-term, mutual and trustworthy cooperation with high-performance production partners.
• ]Anticipation of food trends and being open-minded for private label ideas.
• ]Efficient and customized logistics & warehousing.

]This approach has proven successful for KUNUA and could be a valuable source of inspiration for your own business strategy. However, if there's one takeaway from this article, it's to use those insights to innovate your own path to success rather than simply following KUNUA's footsteps!