This week, I attended the Fancy Food Show in New York City. It’s long been one of my favorite food conferences, mostly because I just love walking around and sampling all the great food. I mean, who wouldn’t?
While the fantastic food samples on the show floor are reason enough for me to get on a plane to NYC, the real reason I was there was to give a keynote talk on how AI is changing the food business.
Granted, the crowd at Fancy Food isn’t your typical Silicon Valley audience, the types that get excited about technology for its own sake. Instead, these are usually successful small to medium-sized businesses making anywhere from $1 million to $250 million annually by selling your favorite hot sauce or healthier crackers.
In other words, the good stuff.
Since these are food brands first and not technology companies, I kept my talk straightforward. I discussed how AI has long been used in the food business, how new forms of AI (particularly generative AI) are advancing rapidly, and how, over the next decade, every rule governing their business—from sales and supply chain to customer acquisition and product development—will change dramatically.
If you just rolled your eyes, I understand; I’ve long been skeptical of hyperbolic warnings about ‘disruption,’ and by now, most of us are tired of hearing how AI is a big deal. But that didn’t stop me because, despite all the talk, I still think most people underestimate the significant difference AI will make in our daily lives in the next decade. In other words, most of us are unprepared for how dramatically the rules governing business and everyday professional life will change.
This belief was reinforced last week when I caught up with Samantha Rose, a long-time consumer-product entrepreneur. She transitioned from being an editor at a Yale magazine and an award-winning poet to building a highly successful housewares startup, which she sold in 2021 to Pattern Brands. Since then, she started a third-party logistics and business services company and is now raising funds for a new venture that buys distressed consumer product brands to turn them around. And, somewhere along the way, she was featured in a Chase card commercial.
In short, Sam has mastered the modern rules of today’s business. Yet, when I asked her about AI, she said, “I wish I could take a year off to study and become an expert on AI because I feel like all the rules are changing.”
I thought if someone as savvy as Sam feels the need to go back to school on AI, what chance do the rest of us have?
After my talk, I led a panel on AI, where we delved deeper into how businesses may change and how small food business entrepreneurs should prepare.
One theme that emerged from the session is that growing food brands need to pay attention to how consumer buying behavior will be radically impacted by AI. Imagine a future where we have our own AI copilots telling us what to eat, where to get the best deals, and more. In a world where everyone is guided by an AI or multiple AIs, how will that change consumer behavior when it comes to buying food?
This is already starting to happen and will undoubtedly be widely adopted in a decade.
And then there’s the purposeful creation of AI-derived information sent to consumers with the intent of changing their buying behavior. We’re seeing it in restaurants as AI reviews flood review sites, and they’re already good enough that consumers can’t tell the difference.
As a publisher, I can’t help but think about how Google deemphasizing website search results and pushing their own AI-generated answers will impact not only my business but also the type of information consumers consume to steer their behavior.
Bottom line: Every direction we look, every industry and its associated value chains are changing faster than ever before. The rules are changing. Unfortunately, most of us can’t take the time to study and will all have to learn on the fly.
I’ll share the suggestions I made for these businesses at the Fancy Food Show in a follow-up post.
