Consumers
have placed a ‘halo’ of better-for-you on grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat
fresh food according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru®
at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.
All retailers should remember that fresh fruit
is convenient, portable, ‘better-for-you’ on the minds-eye of the consumer
according to Johnson. Don’t let your
restaurant look more like yesterday than tomorrow.
In
new research from PMA found that “People eat fruit because
it’s sweet, juicy, crisp, portable, filling, satisfying, shareable and good for
you”. To increase sales of cut fruit,
PMA further recommended offering precut fruit snack packs with a side of dip
and adding precut fruits to salad bars to make fruit more accessible to the
lunch crowd.
And
to capture the younger consumers who tend to snack more throughout the day,
consider featuring exotic, nontraditional fruits such as lychee or passion
fruit; offer portion sizes geared towards one-person households, and feature
ready-to-eat snack options to be eaten on the go or throughout the day.
Nielsen says in its report Booming Snack Sales
Highlight a Growth Opportunity in Emerging Markets. “Consumers are eating up
this ‘on-the-go’ snacking subcategory, to the tune of U.S. $1.1 billion,”
Naturipe
Farms of Salinas, Calif. is going after the on-the-go market with its Naturipe Snacks fresh fruit cups that include several
flavor combinations of blueberries, grapes and apples. “Our fruit cups are
packed in a unique cup design with a built-in spork and 5 ounces of fresh
fruit,” says Steven Ware, VP of value-added fresh. “Heat-sealed for plastic
reduction and a secure closure, these cups are ideal for convenience stores,
grab-and go departments and catering operations.”
According
to Chicago-based IRI Fresh, while total
fresh-cut fruit is up 38% since 2013.
Now think how that number would look if more fast food outlets offered
fresh fruit. Regarding the top five fresh-cut fruits adding the most dollars to
the category since 2013, IRI finds that berries are No. 1, with 82% in dollar
sales growth.
When
it comes to increasing sales of fresh-cut fruit, Greg Wilson of Reichel Foods advises grocers to think of their
youngest shoppers. “Merchandising fresh-cut products low in the set helps
increase sales because they are more visible to children,” he says. “Also,
merchandise standing up so the consumers can see what is in the package.” Reichel
Foods’ best-selling line is its Dippin’ Stix brand of kid-friendly cut fruit
with dips, such as apples and caramel.
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/
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