Restaurants Online Sales Need to include Snacks

Restaurant chains have been trying to attract both Millennial and Generation Z consumers as they are the current base customer and future growth driver according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Restaurants need to understand that both millennial and Gen Z consumers are more likely to search for meals, menus, snacks online, via mobile devise; then use mobile pay. One problem is driving the incremental add on snacking item to the order to increase ticket size and profitability. 

New research from Euromonitor International have that found consumers are making fewer unplanned, impulse snack purchases in the last five years because of the shift to e-commerce. While

Online grocery sales are forecast to reach $100 billion by as early as 2022, and 70% of shoppers will at least occasionally shop for groceries online by that time, according to the Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen.

The fact is consumers still like snacks. According to market research firm IRI, sales in snacking rose to $89 billion in 2016, posting an annual growth rate of 3%. Nielsen found the growth has not been confined to just one area, with all individual snacking categories posting sales increases — led by bars, jerky, cookies and crackers — from 2013 to 2016. In fact, for younger generations, snacking has begun to replace the three-square-meals-a-day model. Grocerant niche mix & match bundling is a key solution to garnering incremental snaking daypart sales.

According to a report from Packaged Facts, members of Gen Z are more likely than millennials to snack between meals and prepare simple meals when they slow down enough to do so.

Millennials think of small meals = snacks they are looking for more sustenance and a way to nourish the body, as evidenced by the rising demand for organic, plant-based and natural foods without additives.

It’s at that intersection that grocerant niche mix & match meal bundling that you can find your solution to building top line sales and bottom line profits according to Johnson. Understanding the challenge and beginning to invest more heavily in multi-meal dayparts on your digital platform is a success clues few should forget.  

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.