Food Focus: April Trends

Come April, spring has officially sprung and shoppers’ social lives are buzzing with Easter gatherings and the start of outdoor entertaining season. The change of season allows for a menu refresh and reinvigorates consumers’ kitchen creativity as heavy, comforting dishes get left behind and lighter recipes come into play. As CPG marketers are planning tentpole activations, we leverage our network of 1,500+ recipe sites to provide them with crucial behavioral insight.

Who’s Shopping?

Easter Celebrations

This past year, the average American consumer spent $179.70 on Easter celebrations — the highest figure on record — according to the National Retail Federation. And while recipe traffic understandably didn’t meet the 2020 surge, traffic on Easter in 2021 was 91% higher than 2019’s pre-pandemic levels. This suggests that digital recipe usage is merely finding its level, not declining. With consumers willing to pay a premium to entertain guests, Easter presents a great time for premium brands to reach shoppers during the moment of inspiration.

What’s Trending?

What’s Out?

Seasonality is key, not just for what’s in, but also for what’s out. The recipes and ingredients that saw the biggest decreases in purchase intent correlate heavily with the change of seasons. Heavy hitters like Fettuccine Carbonara and Loaded Potato Soup were completely escorted out of our top 1,000 recipe rankings. And on an ingredient front, we saw the makings of said seasonal recipes and of hearty comfort dishes like stock, potatoes, allspice and others take the biggest losses in purchase interest.

What’s In?

As we look at both the top growing recipes and ingredients in April, seasonal produce like asparagus and strawberries make their debuts, in both delectable dinner options and sweet treats. Across the board, we see the emergence of tropical flavors as well, most notably pineapple in all its forms. April is the time to shine for produce as shoppers are looking to refresh their diets and leave behind shelf-stable goods and hefty casseroles.

We also see the return of cold sides and salads, indicating the revival of consumer social lives as home cooks look for recipes that travel well.

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