Considering everyone is depending on food, it is vital to investigate who the ones are that sets the agenda, and who is questioning the current talking points. For some time now, it has been the food corporations that have been in the forefront of trying to put pressure on the legislations around food, for their own benefit. One example is the conflict between Monsanto and EU, where the giant company finally dropped the attempts to introduce genetically modified crops in the European countries after political pressure.

In 2016, we need to consider two new types of agenda setters that does not have a cooperation’s interest top of mind. First we have the established chefs. The kind of chef who is no longer only present in the kitchen but have built a brand around the name and are evolving to become entrepreneurs, investors and ambassadors. Jamie Oliver is one of the first examples of the modern time chefs where he uses his name to affect the quality in the school meals and is also actively working to integrate young people who has ended up in the margin of society by offering employment at his restaurants. The NOMA chef Renée Redzepi is another example, who is taking an active stand by being a committee member of LocoL, a venture by the two “entrepreneurial chefs” Roy Choi and Daniel Pattersons. It is a fast food restaurant in San Francisco and Los Angeles which aim is to provide healthy fast food in low income areas.

Across the scale of agenda setters, we find the conscious consumer. Our international partner Ketchum calls them Food Evangelists in their global inquiry Food2020. This group is no longer small and isolated but has come to include the greater public, whose scepticism towards the big food companies (food suppliers) puts them in a valuable power position. They want to know what’s in their food, how it came there, how the workers that are producing the food are treated and how food companies are using their power position (hence an increased need for a solid CSR programme).

Today, every ingredient and process used in the production of food or beverages, either categorized as industrially produced, natural food, organic, artificial, synthetic or genetically modified, is questioned by the end consumer. The answers you get is not uncommonly confusing or contradictory. Food companies must be able to meet the influential Food Evangelists by building a relationship to the consumer. To build confidence and trust, the food companies need to address the questions from the consumer by simplifying the communication and by making it comprehensible and straight forward. And doing so without tirades of superlatives that is too often synonymous with corporate communication around food today. Communication must be including and relatable, especially with a subject that affects everyone. Only this way can food corporations become reliable in their quest for the picky consumer.