Tasty trends in food and drink: Media interview with Waitrose Food editor Jessica Gunn

The food & drink sector is big business in the UK. Despite the impact of the pandemic on the industry, reports suggest that the market could be worth over £300 billion by 2028.

To help you make the most of this trend and secure media coverage, Jessica Gunn, editor of Waitrose Food magazine, shares the importance of branding, 2025 trends, and how to feature in the magazine.

Why is brand key to Waitrose and how is that reflected across Waitrose Food magazine?

I think the Waitrose brand is fairly well understood; it stands for quality, a real love and passion for food, and also integrity. Waitrose and John Lewis are based on a partnership model and I think that goes through everything they do. I’m part of an agency (Dentsu Creative), but we always try and reflect those values of quality, integrity and honesty, as well as just that real love and passion for food.

Waitrose has got a really unique range of products – particularly through its Cooks Ingredients range; they’re really foodie, sort of globetrotting flavours. The brand has always been at the forefront of making international flavours accessible and available to normal people and that’s what we try and do in the mag, too – to look outward to the world at all these incredible, exciting foods. In the same way that you can go into a store and buy whatever that latest ingredient or flavour is, we try and share that with readers through editorial.

There are lots of influencers now in the food & drink space across social media – what do established outlets, like Waitrose Food, provide that they can’t? 

Social media has democratised access to food in an incredible way. Influencers have a really personal connection with their audience and fan base, and I think every brand now looks at having different channels to reach different audiences in different ways, at different times, depending on what they’re looking to achieve.

There’s a real intimacy between a print publication and its audience though; it can be incredible. The amount of letters and emails we get from people who have read the magazine for years, and tell us how it has touched their life always surprises me. Waitrose Food magazine has a really meaningful relationship with its readers; it doesn’t ping up to the next story after a few seconds, and the algorithm doesn’t change how you receive it. It’s just there. It’s yours to keep and connect with in the way that you want, when you want.

Waitrose Food is a monthly magazine – when is the best time for food & drink PRs to pitch to the team, and which sections/regular features can they help with?

We’re at least four months in advance. We’re obviously seasonally focused as well. We have various regular sections, like the front section which is all about shopping and new things to try and discover. It’s called The Edit. We only feature stuff that’s in John Lewis or Waitrose, predominantly Waitrose. It’s always very helpful if there is a PR who’s representing a brand, to let us know if it’s going into Waitrose stores.

We do look at press releases! I often skim through something and some part of it will tick in my brain until at some point in the future, when you’re thinking about trends, one thing joins another, and you suddenly realise everyone’s doing it. We also cover restaurant openings and are generally always keeping an eye on what’s going on.

Consumers are demanding more from food and drink brands when it comes to sustainability and ethical business choices – have you seen this from your readership, and do you think this trend will continue? 

All the research I’ve seen shows that, particularly for our audience, people do care about sustainability, and they increasingly expect the brands that they purchase from to do the work for them. Consumers want to know and feel confident that they can take something off the shelf and that the brand has done the thinking and work for them.

Waitrose has its own farm (Leckford Estate in Hampshire) and are very focused on regenerative farming. Sustainability was part of the founding principles of the John Lewis Partnership. Personally, it’s nice to work for a brand who are really committed to improving sustainability across the board in terms of farming to packaging to animal welfare.

What are the other big trends in food and drink this year? 

A massive trend is bakery and buns! The humble bun, which I think has been very close to the British heart forever, is incredibly popular right now. Bakeries and artisan baking techniques are huge (look out for the April issue for more!).

Sandwiches are also massive:  there’s been so many bagel places opening as well as a real renewed love of sandwiches in general. I think a lot of food trends are being driven by visuals. Anything that looks good on social media or makes a lovely Tiktok video is big – and sandwiches really nail that trend.

I don’t think it’s particularly new among hardcore food fans but I think Korean food is still very big. Malaysian food is also finally getting some attention. French cooking had a massive renaissance through last year and that seems to be continuing. Places like Josephine and Cafe Francois in London have really given new lease of life to French food, too.

Also, people are much more interested in something a bit simpler these days. Things like pies and noodle soups and chicken schnitzel. Lots of the books are demonstrating that, too. Yotam Ottolenghi had his book, ‘Ottolenghi Comfort’, last year, and I think when he is doing comfort food as his big new thing then that’s something that everyone else is going to follow.

I think health also continues to really dominate – the 30 plants a week trend seems to have really taken hold; it’s a great message – rather than cutting back, it’s more about adding more good things. 

Hungry for more food and drink? Check out our ranking of Top 10 UK Food Blogs and Baking Blogs. 

For how health and sugar are being discussed in the UK media, politics, and across social media and what this means for your related campaigns, download the Vuelio report ‘Sugar & Health: A PR guide to healthy FMCG & HFSS comms’.