Charcuterie is a Millennial Meal Solution

Snacking, grazing, and nibbling have all become common place in a world where traditional meal periods have been replaced by time starved consumers who have elected to eat around daily events or activities according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  

You know the old saying, what goes around comes around.   Charcuterie plates, platters, and platforms once again are gaining tractions with consumers. Think about one of the key elements of grocerant niche success, mix and match meal bundling.  Charcuterie empowers consumers to create a customized charcuterie set-up that can be customized and personalized for a family’s consumption convenience, nutrition and indulgence from grab-and-go products the entire family will eat and enjoy.

New research from IRI found that sales of “charcuterie types of packaged lunch meats” reached $561 million in January 2019, up 8.1% vs. a year ago, and sales of “charcuterie types of packaged meat snacks/meals” were up 6.5% for $378 million in the same time period, And the total charcuterie category of both packaged lunch meats and snacks reached $1.4 billion, an increase of 5.3% vs. the previous year. 

While grocery stores are spotlighting the category with enhanced and multiple displays in-store, featuring a bevy of grab-and-go sliced meats, restaurants are using catering and food delivery platforms to drive mix and match meat trays and side options according to Johnson.

Battle for Share of Stomach

This is once trend that legacy food manufactures have coalesce around with companies the ilk of Dietz & Watson Landjaeger Swiss Style Snack Sticks, Columbus Craft Meats’ Charcuterie, Hormel Gatherings Hard Salami & Pepperoni Party Trays, Olli Salumeria’s Snack Packs and Volpi Foods’ Roltini Singles. There is no sign that the grocerant niche mix and match meal bundling growth will ebb anytime soon.

Here is why recently Mintel reported that 95% of U.S. adults snack daily, and 70% do so more than twice a day. Mintel further noted that the percentage of “super snackers” those who snack more than four times a day is also increasing.

Success does leave clues and it is important to note that Charcuterie, plates and platters or portable.  Regular readers of this blog will remember back in the day that our Grocerant Guru® identified, quantified, and qualified the FIVE P’s of food marketing, which included that food had to be portable.  

Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing 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:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.