The Four Worlds of Food
The increasing relevance of food for every brand, and some strategies to get involved
We’re back with SKEWED Sense. It’s been quite some time, as we’ve been very busy with other stuff but we’ve enjoyed thinking about this one for you. Here’s the opener to our ‘food season’, a brief season of content where we examine the place food has in the world which SKEWED works in. This opener is intended as a brief scan of the world of food alongside some strategic learnings and applications. We promise all em dashes are the result of actual humans writing.
Every brand should have some well defined thinking around food, and not just ones directly involved with the making or consumption of food. It’s is a gold mine for world-building, that shouldn’t be left to chance.
This does not simply mean selling more stuff. It can also be playing outside of your category, finding new ways to have fun with your brand. Changing the content you create, the partnerships you choose, the experiences you stage—and even how you care for the health and wellness of your customers and employees.
In the quest for simplicity, we’ve broken down food into four worlds. And just to be generous we’ve also included some strategies that can be applied in each quadrant.
Eat to Live or Live to Eat?
Without naming names, there are broadly two camps within the SKEWED office—those that ‘live to eat’ and those that ‘eat to live’. Something interesting happens when you split food along lines of purpose. Is it simply fuel to function or is it a source of pleasure?
It’s also interesting when you split food along lines of positioning. How is it marketed and sold? What we eat sends social signals, and we signal status through our choices—arguably now more so than ever. Eating is a performance of identity whether we like it or not. We’ve split here on the basis of whether it’s accessible or aspirational.
With the axes of purpose and positioning in mind we’ve mapped out four quadrants, examining the behaviours that fit within each.
A minor caveat first: We think that each sector of this diagram has a justified place in the world
EVERYDAY FUEL
Everyday Fuel just gets you through the day. There’s no extra frills. It’s behaviours like downgrading your supermarket choice to fit your circumstances. Grabbing a meal deal or instant ramen between meetings. Downing a basic bitch Costa or 7-Eleven coffee before your commute. Drinking Huel because you “don’t have time” for lunch.
The companies in this quadrant are raking the cash in as people are feeling the pinch. Supermarket prices feel sky high, and eating out is a luxury that many cannot afford. Said supermarkets are reporting record profits. Processed foods are cheap, so if you are stretched for cash it’s easy to subsist on frozen waffles and fish fingers but awareness of UPFs (ultra-processed foods) is growing fast. At the same time, cheap staples are being reframed as smart cultural hacks — ramen hacks and meal-deal TikToks have made frugality feel clever, even fun.
Tensions
Cheap vs healthy. People need pragmatic, affordable fuel — frozen waffles, fish fingers, meal deals — but UPF backlash is rising. Brands need to balance value with integrity.
Could do with more
Generosity and fun. This isn’t charity. This is being loyal to your customers who will be loyal in return. We’ve all heard of shrinkflation, so now is the time to show that you can be generous.
Strategies:
Double down on value. Make essentials feel generous, not stingy — show you’re loyal to customers when money is tight.
Aldi do their Super 6, where every two weeks they pick six favourites that they offer at super low prices.Put the basics on a pedestal. Don’t be afraid to shine a light on simple produce or “boring” staples.
Oddbox are making ‘wonky’ or odd shaped vegetables desirable.Make frugality fun. Borrow the spirit of humble spuds, ramen hacks and meal-deal TikToks — let pragmatism feel fun.
Spudman adds his personality to a simple everyday food. Meal deals make it easier and cheaper to choose.
THE OPTIMISERS
Optimising is pure function sold to you as a way to better yourself. It’s sipping a $20 Erewhon smoothie after pilates. Meticulously planning macros, hydration gels. Fasting protocols, biohacking diets, precision nutrition. Have you taken your supplements subscription yet?
Optimising is what you do once the fundamentals are taken as a given. It’s increasing performance through marginal gains. Status symbols for those interested in eeking out that extra 10%. Protein is still riding its wave, with brands like David Protein making noise — and functional fibre may well be next, as investors circle gut health. Functional food for sport has had a glow-up to match the run club wave, with Maurten gels and electrolyte powders styled more like luxury drops than medical aids. Even Huel has edged into flavour, showing that performance no longer has to mean punishment. This sector often positions itself as the small guy taking on ‘big food’.
Tensions:
Natural vs Synthetic. Biohacking loves powders, gels, and lab-engineered nutrition (Maurten gels, Huel), but equally we’re seeing the RFK wave of beef tallow, raw milk, and whole-food (cue meat being eaten off a chopping board).
Could do with more:
Humanness and humility. Taking a beat to ask ourselves, “what are we optimising for?” Or “do we really hate ourselves so much?” The impulse to optimise isn’t wrong — just get straight on the why first.
Strategies:
Turn features into rituals. Frame your functional benefits as status-worthy behaviours (like supplements or run-club gels).
Maurten gels are now a flex at marathons.Don’t oversell your innovation. Put performance into language people understand, not just lab talk. Make the jargon understandable NOT woolly.
Oatly are a famous example. They try to speak like humans (sometimes slightly annoying humans but that’s ok).Add a human touch. Balance marginal gains with empathy — ask “what are we optimising for?”
WHOOP have shifted from hardcore metrics to more human feeling stress and recovery balance.
POP PLEASURES
Pop Pleasures are accessible indulgences that don’t cost the earth. Late-night fried chicken runs. A little soda treat with your lunch. Indulging in nostalgic snacks, sharing them on TikTok.
Some Pop Pleasures are being repackaged right now to line up closer to optimisation. But perhaps we should ask ourselves who is drinking Poppi not Pepsi. Magic Spoon tried to sell us on cereal that’s nostalgic but apparently good for you. Nostalgia is being used as a growth engine, with childhood snacks being repackaged for adults. Humble foods like fried chicken or crisps are being reclaimed as cultural staples.
Tension:
Infantile vs Adult. How do you tread the line between something being fun and something being grown-up? Do grown-ups hanker for more childlike snacks again?
Could do with more:
Forgiveness. Having a treat every now and then is fine, we don’t need to masquerade it as a health food. Boshhhhhh.
Strategies:
Embrace fans. Find ways to engage with the genuine people who enjoy your products.
In-N-Out codified their secret menu to make the ‘Not So Secret Menu’.Reclaim the humble. Elevate “low” culture without irony — fried chicken, crisps, soda all have mass cultural power.
Morley’s chicken has leant into its place in London culture with streetwear collabs.Give permission to enjoy. Don’t over-justify indulgence — embrace joy for what it is.
Ben & Jerry’s never masquerades as health food. It’s always an occassional treat.
EPICUREAN ELITE
Epicurean Elite is food as cultural capital — grub as theatre and status. Think long tasting menus at fine dining restaurants. Hosting a curated dinner party with local seasonal produce. Travelling for two hours to get to a hole-in-the-wall.
Food has always been a status symbol, but it feels like more of us engage with it in this manner now. Millenials without the cash to buy houses spend their discretionary income on expensive restaurants. The dinner party is back, fuelled by young consumers trading nights out for high-end groceries. Bougie grocers like Erewhon, Natoora and Happier Grocer have turned shopping into theatre. Restaurant culture has gone mainstream — The Bear is primetime TV, and chef clogs are fashion. Epicurean Elitism isn’t simply about enjoying more expensive products though, it’s about showing your cultural capital. Sometimes this may be about access to knowledge not money — e.g. finding a hyper authentic restaurant via Vittles.
Tension:
Knowledge vs Gatekeeping. No-one likes a know-it-all, but knowledge and expert opinions also deserve a place in the world. Not everything can or should be democratised.
Could do with more:
Creativity and sexiness. We’re all a bit bored of small plates restaurants. Sometimes a little starch is nice and we think that is totally possible without being pompous (this is pretty integral to Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality).
Strategies:
Be Curious. Offer provenance, and insider knowledge without being pompous. Showcase others whilst doing so.
Natoora are obsessively curious about farming and their produce.Don’t forget food is experience. Flavour isn’t the be and end all. Setting the context for food is important.
Keith McNally restaurants are back in the zeitgeist. The food is pretty good but its all about being in a sexy room.Trade in taste not trends. Don’t blindly follow trends, do things that anchored in truth.
St John have always done their own thing. They are unabashedly themselves.
END
Food is never just about sustenance. It’s about performance, pleasure, access, and aspiration. We all flex between quadrants depending on context, and brands can do the same. The real question isn’t whether you need a food strategy (you do) — it’s which world you want to build in, and how you’ll use food to show what you stand for.
I think you forgot about a key category: ”The French”. ❤️❤️❤️