Multigenerational Households Driving Evolving Food Niche Success

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ documented in 2010 how the growth in multigenerational households was contributing to rapid growth of mix and match meal component bundling, a key driver of the grocerant niche’s success.

A recent Pew Research Center report found a surge in the number of multigenerational households in the U.S., climbing to 49 million or 16% of all U.S. households. That percentage is even higher for age groups 25-to-34 and 65 and older, where one in five, or 20%, live in these extended families.

What our Grocerant Guru® found in 2010 was that these multigenerational households are also comprise of an ever increasing multiethnic make-up the number then was 44%.  That was another contributing factor to the rise of the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food sales.

There was once a time when the family sat down and had breakfast, lunch, and dinner together.  Today, that in most cases is simply a talking point a holiday, or wish list.  More and more time starved activities based households cater to the activity over the family meal.  All the while household palate preferences are expanding by age, ethnocentricity, and exposure to new public global food fads.

While the households are expanding in complexity Foodservice Solutions® has repeatedly found that the cooking skill-set required to meet household palate demands simply does not exist in most homes today. Thus Grocerant Niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food continues to garner momentum.

Pew Research Center found that the growth is being fueled by four factors:

1.       High unemployment and the housing foreclosures of the recession.

2.       Rising number of immigrants.

3.       Rising average age of young-adult marriages.

4.       Aging population and need for caregiving.

Yes, once again Foodservice Solutions® 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome is playing a role. Additional studies have shown that seniors are the most unlikely to change brands. As in home family caregivers start making more of the brand decisions, marketers have an opportunity to influence switching. The battle for the remote control could certainly impact TV viewing habits inside a multigenerational home that according to Pew..

Restaurant, Grocery Store, C-store brands that offer mix and match meal component bundling will have the best opportunity to garner a larger share of dollar moving forward.

Foodservice Solutions® specialize’ in the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat Fresh Prepared Food niche aka the Grocerant niche.  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy