Restaurateurs Looking for Sales Think Women.

Restaurants recovery has been agonizingly slow while other sectors have seen 29%+ increases since 2009. The National Restaurant Association  Hudson Riehle  reported that  the amount of dollars spent on food continues to decline and is not standing at about 13% of income. He sees an increasing competition between restaurants, grocery stores and C-stores.

Our findings concur showing restaurant customer migration has accelerated since 2008 creating a platform of success for non-traditional fresh food outlets. Many legacy restaurant chains have been focusing on 18-24 year old men just might have over looked the most important group, women. More women are entering college than men, more women are graduating from college then men, and more women are in graduate school than men. Need I say more.

When the Hartman Group reported that “More than half (53 percent) of all eating occasions are snacking occasions.”  They went onto say "Health" is an important consideration on 56 percent of snacking occasions. On any given day, one in ten (10 percent) of non-restaurant eating occasions takes place within an hour of purchasing the food and/ or beverage consumed (what we term an "Immediate Consumption" occasion). And, according to our Hartman Eating Occasion Compass data that consists of more than 41,000 total eatings, consumers are four times more likely to go to a convenience store (C-Store) for an Immediate Consumption occasion than for a non-Immediate Consumption occasion (14 percent vs. 3 percent, respectively, sourcing from C-Store). “  We knew that women were driving change.

The battle for share of stomach can clearly be seen in the shift of core convenience store shoppers.  Here again is what the Hartman Group found: “Women's on-the-go lifestyles and efforts to balance work and family make convenience stores an increasingly appealing option:   Women now use convenience stores as much as men,  on average, women spend more time than men in C-stores, Women are the largest consumers of coffee and fountain beverages”

The Hartman Group identified features that especially appeal to women they are “size food selections, New product selections, Quick in and out service.  Regular readers of this blog know that we have documented that the ability to bundle and sell meals and meal component mix and match bundled options that can be customized and personalized are key to success in fresh food retailing today.  Women understand how importantly those options are and how they can include a dinner meal and a gallon of milk for cereal in the morning expanding day-parts for both today and tomorrow.

Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions® 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization contact us at: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us