When the year draws to a close, billions of people around the world look forward to the Holiday Season which will be celebrated with family and friends. Christmas, shortened for Christ's Mass, is both a religious and cultural holiday; the celebrations bring people together fostering a sense of joy, gratitude, and love through gift exchanges, feasts, and festivities. According to Numerator's 2023 survey, 70% of US consumers are willing to spend over $100 US dollars on Christmas celebrations . This includes things such as food shopping at grocery retailers and box stores, to purchasing presents in person and online for their loved ones. The Christmas season offers abundant business opportunities for the food industry as well, and it is crucial to understand what consumers are looking for.

Traditionally, Christmas feasts included rich foods that people looked forward to during Europe's long and cold winters. Various "dumpling" dishes like Tortellini soups in Italy, Pierogi and Uszka (Christmas Eve Dumplings) in Poland, and "Pelmeni" or Meat Dumplings in European countries are all festive and comforting holiday dishes. When the Christmas tradition was brought to the New World, many new ingredients, flavors, and customs emerged on festive dining tables. For example, in Mexico and many Latin American countries, people enjoy Tamales, various Empanadas, and Enchiladas served with festive red and green sauces.

The United States is a country often depicted as The Melting Pot. People migrated to the USA with diverse ethnic backgrounds and different traditions; many did not celebrate Christmas. Hence, when many families are celebrating this public holiday at home, Chinese restaurants remained opened to welcome guests and serve delicious food to people from all cultural backgrounds, and religious believes. Eventually, eating Chinese Dim Sum or ordering Chinese food takeout has become a new Christmas tradition in the USA.

Recently, a rising number of consumers are now more health conscious and concerned about the environmental impact of traditional foods. In response, many food manufacturers are creating plant-based alternatives for the Holidays catering to the growing population of Vegan and Vegetarian consumers worldwide. Delicious Vegan frozen foods range from Ravioli, Pierogi, and meatless "Meatloaf" to different Pies. These are easy-to-cook, reheat, or air-fry Holiday meal options that make being both Vegan and Vegetarian much more accessible and affordable. In the UK, a well-known supermarket brand indicated that the searches for "plant-based" foods on their website in 2022 increased 115% compared to a year before, and many people in Britain are signing up to join the annual Veganuary movement. In German, a discount supermarket chain that has over 12,000 stores in 19 countries worldwide, including Denmark, Ireland, Australia, the USA and China. This company has created an entire Plant-based Christmas menu for 2023 and announced that they would expand their vegan products to more than 1,000 items by the end of 2024.

Everyone enjoys a good Christmas meal together, but planning and preparing for the Festivities at home can be labor intensive and time-consuming. Thanks to modern day food manufacturers, supermarkets, wholesalers, and restaurants much of the hard work has been reduced. Many companies and caterers are offering ready-to-eat and easy-to-reheat products that are convenient and fun to make for the Holidays. Consumers can “serve up a storm” in just minutes, as these festive foods are usually sold in frozen packages, made to bite-sized, and designed to be conveniently air-fried, microwaved, or baked to perfection with simple instructions. Popular Christmas Party foods include Spring Rolls (Lumpia Shanghai), Egg Rolls, Samosas, Meatballs, etc. All they need is to be nicely plated on a dish with fresh herbs, sauces, or flowers, to create a fast and easy Christmas Party center piece.

The Holiday Season would not be complete without festive desserts and sweets. Homemade cakes and pies are essential during Christmas time. People also enjoy making and gifting Christmas cookies during the Holidays. Iconic cookies include Chocolate Crinkles, Snowball Cookies, and Gingerbread. Many food manufacturers and confectionery brands cleverly create and promote Christmas limited edition products incorporating seasonal flavors like Pumpkin Spice, Gingerbread, and Eggnog to please consumers. These products are also wrapped and decorated in festive packaging to attract consumers' attention and generate more sales during the holiday season.

ANKO offers professional food machines that can produce a wide range of food products boasting efficient production rates and remarkable consistency. The HLT-700 Series is designed to make Ravioli, Tortellini, Pierogi, Uszka, and various Dumplings and Dim Sum. The SD-97 Series is made for producing an array of party foods such as Meatballs, Piroshki, Snowball Cookies, Brunuelos, and Filled Cookies. To produce popular fried foods, ANKO also offers a professional Empanada Machine – the EMP-900 for making sweet and savory Empanadas and the SR-27 Spring Roll Production Line that make great tasting Spring Rolls and Lumpia. In addition to supplying quality automated food equipment, ANKO also provide professional production solutions for holiday specialty products including recipe consultation, forming mold customization services, and food marketing insights. Our team is dedicated to help your food business thrive and prosper. Please feel free to contact us for more information about our machines and services.

Source: Numerator