Ready-2-Eat Fresh Food Customer Migration Continues

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ has been tracking food customer migration since 1991. Food discovery contines to be the number one driver for Millennial’s in 2014 seeming looking for ‘different’, authentic, unique flavors, outlets, and portability. In addition it looks to be the driver in 2015 as well  as Millennial’s quest for new full flavored fresh food is only increasing.

In a new Grocerant niche survey focusing on Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh meals from Convenience Stores, Fast Food, Fast Casual, Casual, and Fine Dining  and Consumers Dinning Out Less by AlixPartners reveled “clearest takeaways for convenience store industry is the increased visits by consumers to convenience stores to purchase ready-to-eat-meals”

This has become a battle for share of stomach as Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ has been documenting in client presentations and as regular readers of this blog know stating here as well since 2009. The AlixPartners survey found “Of diners surveyed, 20% said they’ll purchase ready-to-eat meals (often from grocery stores or convenience stores) in order to cut their restaurant spending over the next 12 months (up from 14% from Q1 2013). Further, consumers increased purchases from convenience stores to 3.2 times per month, up from 2 visits per month in Q1 2012.”

Eric Dzwonczyk, managing director at AlixPartners and co-lead of the firm’s Restaurant and Foodservice Practice. “Grocery and convenience stores are upping their ready-to-eat game by offering higher quality and better tasting ready-to-eat options, and we’re seeing the results as value-conscious consumers are increasingly seeing ready-to-eat meals as a preferable option as they seek to reduce their dining out spend,” …

“Traditional restaurants can no longer afford to ignore or underestimate the ready-to-eat, convenience and grocery store threats.  We’ve seen a blurring of the lines between these segments and traditional restaurants, particularly Fast Food, over the past several years and we expect this to continue if traditional restaurants do not take note and find ways to win back this ‘share of stomach’.”

When legacy retailers integrate Foodservice Solutions® 5P’s of Food Marketing with the introductions new fresh food offering or fresh prepared food trial via Limited Time Offer’s customer adoption increased exponentially.  Success does leave clues the reason, NPD, Technomic, The Hartman Group, and AlixPartners are all focusing on the Grocerant niche of late because we were first, we were right and they know it and they simply want to catch up.  

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 integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche since 1991 Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us