Food Consumer Migration Driving Rapid Industry Change

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ has help Grocery retailers, C-stores, Non-traditional Outlets, Food E-tailers, and Restaurants re-position to garner a larger share of stomach since 1991.  Success does leave clues and customer migration has accelerated once again this time changing category leadership that has been in place prior to 1917 and ever since. 

For the first time since the government started breaking out the numbers and keeping track in 1992, Americans spent more money last month in restaurants and bars than they did in grocery stores. Here are the numbers according to the U.S. Department of Commerce:

March 2014
Restaurants and bars: $46.8 billion
Grocery stores: $49.1 billion

March 2015
Restaurants and bars: $50.4 billion
Grocery stores: $50.1 billion

February 2015
Restaurants and bars: $50.0 billion
Grocery stores: $50.4 billion

Our Grocerant Guru™ repeatedly asks “Who wants to cook for scratch or who wants to do dishes?” The simple fact is that 50% of US consumers over the age of 18 are single helps drive change.  Cooking for one is no fun, cooking for two makes you blue, and cooking for a family simply must be done.   

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported last week that Americans spent $52.3 billion at restaurants and bars in March, and $49.7 billion in grocery stores—the first time grocery spending lagged restaurant/bar expenditures. Don’t look for this trend to end any time soon.

Hudson Riehle, senior vice president for the restaurant association, stated “restaurant operators are increasingly optimistic about business conditions and potential sales growth in the months ahead. About 59 percent of restaurant operators expect to have higher sales in six months, compared to the same period in the previous year, up from 57 percent the previous month.”

Riehle’s research has found that “Millennials view dining out as a social event (i.e. a chance to connect. They prefer to eat at restaurants with a lot of choices and lower price points. They tend to favor fast food, deli food and pizza restaurants over coffee shops, high-end dining and casual dining.”

 Grocery stores and C-stores that focus on Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food can reduce the amount of customer migration.  C-store are doing an exceptional job in fact garnering customers from both the grocery sector and restaurant sector according to the team at Foodservice Solutions® leveraging mix and match fresh prepared meal bundling options to garner share of stomach. The customer is on the move.  Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is the key to driving top line sale and bottom line profits.

www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging marketing integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche and has been since 1991 Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us