NEW YORK – For breakfast food manufacturers and restaurants to achieve maximum success, consumers must be offered creative breakfast foods in more dayparts, in portable forms and sizes, with better-for-you recipes – plus with new flavors and higher-quality ingredients. Successful breakfast innovation can be accomplished by tapping into that meal occasion’s beloved qualities and making them more accessible and appealing to contemporary consumers. So relays a new study titled Breakfast Trends: Culinary Trend Mapping Report from the Center for Culinary Development (CCD) and Packaged Facts.

"Breakfast continues to transcend into an any-time-of day meal," said Kimberly Egan, CCD CEO. "Leveraging breakfast's warming comfort, its ease of eating and memory-laden flavors and marrying them with current consumer needs opens up breakfast to new horizons."

What is pushing innovation and creating breakfast trends to inspire new product development is fierce competition to meet consumer needs for breakfast on-the-go, at all hours and in more nutritious forms.

CCD identifies seven "hot" trends:

  • Artisan breakfast – Traditional breakfast dishes are being re-made by contemporary restaurant chefs using fresh, high-quality ingredients and accented with global flavor twists.
  • Third-Wave coffee – Post-commodity, post-espresso, Third-Wave coffee redefines quality: It comes from meticulously sourced beans roasted in "micro" batches and brewed with the upmost attention to maximize flavor.
  • New whole grains – New grains such as sorghum, quinoa and amaranth add excitement to breakfast cereals while new styles of bread and even gluten-free products expand breakfast offering with better-for-you options.
  • Waffles gone wild – Waffles go beyond the morning daypart, into savory lunch and dinner dishes, as carriers for sandwiches and dessert creations.
  • Breakfast pizza – Pizza topped with breakfast ingredients such as eggs, bacon and fruit becomes a versatile form to be enjoyed throughout the day.
  • All-day eggs – The egg is being positioned as a healthful and adaptable food for a sandwich or wrap, to accompany a salad, on a pizza or mixed with pasta.
  • Breakfast in a bowl – New sweet and savory flavor combinations continue to expand this trend.