At the American Society of Baking’s BakingTech 2009, which runs from March 1-4 in Chicago, supermarket guru Phil Lempert will share his insights on consumer trends.

                What are consumers thinking as we head into the New Year? Are they concerned about rising food prices? Are they spending less and trading down? How will today’s struggling economy impact their spending on baked goods? Getting inside the consumer’s mindset and understanding what they like and don’t like can be an expensive proposition, and multinational food companies spend millions of dollars each year gathering insights that they can use in the development of new products.

As one of America’s leading consumer trend-watchers and analysts, Lempert has been helping food companies understand consumer behavior and identify marketing trends and new product opportunities for more than a quarter of a century.

Lempert is well known as a food trends editor and correspondent for NBC’s Today show, where he reports on trends, food safety, money-saving tips and new products. He also makes monthly appearances on ABC’s The View and has appeared numerous times on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 20/20, CNN, CNBC and other networks and local programs.

He also is known as the supermarket guru. In fact, more than 9 million people each year visit his Web site, www.supermarketguru.com.

In 2007, he founded Phil’s Supermarket, which features interactive product demonstration, consumer focus groups, specialized recipes, expert chefs and detailed product information to allow consumers and businesses to better understand shopping and marketing options in the virtual and real worlds.

At ASB’s BakingTech 2009, Lempert will give attendees the latest consumer insights for the upcoming year. It won’t cost millions of dollars, but in the end, attendees will feel like they hit the jackpot.

Visit www.asbe.org for more information on the show.