Consumers Confound Grocers & Restaurants with New Demands

Battle for Share of Stomach

Once again consumers prove that the ‘halo’ of better-for-you focus, force, and food platform that consumers want. Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is the number one item driving food sales for both Grocery stores and Restaurants according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Consider this U.S. retail sales of plant-based foods totaled $4.5 billion over the past year, marking growth of 11%, according to the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) and The Good Food Institute. There were 228 million servings of plant-based burgers ordered at quick-service restaurants in the year ending May, up 10 percent from a year ago, reports The NPD Group.

Is the tide turning? No, not so fast beef burgers are still by far the most popular burger ordered at quick-serves. There were 6.4 billion beef burgers ordered at quick-serves in the year ending May 2019, and although growth is flat compared to year ago, beef burgers are still the top sandwich ordered at U.S. restaurants.  However, Millennials and Gen Z are both in search of food discovery according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards and ‘better-for-you’ tops the list of with 84.1% saying they are looking for food that is ‘better-for-you’.

Once again consider this “Over a two-year period, plant-based food retail sales are up 31%, the PBFA and The Good Food Institute noted. Dollar sales climbed from $3.4 billion in April 2017 to $4 billion in April 2018 and then to $4.5 billion in April 2019.”

Meals mix and matched with plant-based food and beverages will continue to garner top line growth simply from trial.  Those that prove flavorful, provide the texture, color, and complexity today’s consumers are in search of will thrive according to Johnson.  Many plant-based foods manufactures will within the next three years be able to scale production to the point that they will also have a price advantage on the shelf and in the restaurants 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/