Fresh prepared foods that are Ready-2-Eat
or Heat-N-Eat continue to drive every sector of retail foodservice today
according to the most recent Grocerant ScoreCards conducted by Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.
Success does leave clues and today
Millennials are passing on to their younger siblings how they like to eat, what
they like to eat and most importantly how they mix and match meal components
from multiple sources combining grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat with Ready-2-Heat
fresh prepared foods into a ‘perfect family meal’ according to Johnson.
In new research from The NPD Group they point out that “Gen Z is the only major demographic projected
to increase its use of restaurants in the next five years, as Millennials, Gen
X and baby boomers are all expected to eat more meals at home”.
Our evolving demographics reveal that the
grocerant niche filled with fresh prepared meals and meal components that are
portable are in favor with today’s consumers according to Johnson growing in
the c-store sector at 9.3% a year.
Consider this the massive size of the Millennial and boomer generations,
in particular, means millions of customers will be moving away from restaurants
in the coming years driven in large part because they were the first
generations to embrace and drive ‘The 65 Inch HDTV Syndrome’.
So who is Generation Z, or those born
between 1995 after 2015 will enter into a peak restaurant life stage by
2024, and an estimated 3.6% increase in population the next five years.
There is one problem with that number it was generated based largely by
immigration, and we all know immigration has come to slow crawl and the
projected number may be one the high side.
Those of us of a certin age know that
while Gen Z in on the go, Millennials, Gen X and baby boomers will enter life
stages that move them away from eating at restaurants and toward eating
more meals at home. There is no
indication they want to cook from scratch or do dishes but they want to eat at
home more according to Johnson.
The NPD report found that in-home food
preparation trends show that 14 percent of meals eaten in the home included an
item that required no time to prepare, up from just 11 percent in 2013.
Helping to cut into restaurant sales as
regular readers of this blog know is Sam Polk, co-founder and CEO of Everytable
who stated “Today, more than ever, people want meals that fit within their busy
lives,” …“At Everytable our mission is to make it as simple and affordable as
possible for our guests to enjoy healthy meals by stopping into one of our
storefronts, through our subscription service or via our Smartfridges in
offices or on a campus.” All that plus customer facing technology, delivery,
and office catering.
As regular readers know Everytable meal
components can include salads, grain bowls and hot plates, are made from
scratch in a central kitchen, individually packaged, and then sent to one of
seven grab-and-go storefronts.
Once again get this Everytable’s menu
items are billed as being similar in quality to fast-causal or casual-dining
eateries and are priced according to individual neighborhood to ensure
affordability for all. Everytable meals in
underserved communities start at $5 while meals in more upscale communities
start at $7 to $8.
Polk continued “85% to 90% of the meals
offered are eaten off premise. The concept’s heaviest users are meal preppers /
working professionals, who make lunches for the week ahead of time, or families
that need to fill in lunch and dinner gaps throughout the week.
Everytable’s concept has been so
well-received that Polk said plans now call for 20 to 25 new locations
throughout Los Angeles within the next year, with later expansion into new
markets. Restaurant customers are not eating less, they are eating somewhere
else for less according to Johnson.
Foodservice Solutions® specializes in
outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify
additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and
brand and menu integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche
visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.twitter.com/grocerant/
Battle for Share of Stomach
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