Mini-Meals Make Merry Customers

 

At the intersection of breakfast, lunch, and dinner the drive-thru replaces the dining room table elevating mini-meals to a staple for many Americans today according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Home-meal replacement has become a trend of mini-meal consumption.

Foodservice Solutions® 2020 Grocerant ScoreCards found 83.1% of consumers don’t know what’s for dinner at Noon, and 61.7%.  More important to note is 73% of retail prepared food purchases are taken to go, while 47% of respondents report consuming their purchase immediately rather than saving it to eat later according to Technomic.

Now Americans have been increasingly opting for fruits, nuts and ready-to-eat snack foods throughout the day, according to The NPD Group. In its annual “Eating Patterns in America” study, the market research firm found that over the past five years, U.S. consumers added 25 between-meal snacking occasions per capita, from 505 in 2015 to 530 in 2020, and that consumption of snack foods at meals grew from 21% of eating occasions in 2010 to 26% in 2020.

The grocerant niche ‘halo’ of better-for-you has elevated a platform of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food that now includes fruit or yogurt being eaten in the morning, more savory snacks like nachos, slice of a fruit pie or a Cosmic Crisp Apple eaten at lunch; and sweeter snacks like chocolate candy and cookies in the evening. 

Yes, sweat and salty still rule the day in mini-meals preferences. The fact is consumers don’t change preference what they change is where they obtain the mini-meal. Today, that preference is via the drive-thru.  Fast food restaurants once ruled that space but convenience store sector is rapidly testing drive thru service as regular readers of this blog know.

Is your menu, fresh food options, or deli case filled with mini-meal options that can be mixed and matched into a meal? Do you have the right balance between sweet and salty? 

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how our Grocerant Guru® can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter