What’s for Dinner or Who Wants What: the new Family Meal

Fresh food fast and convenient continues as the undercurrent driving where families get the meals, meal components that they can then bundle into the mix & match perfect meal for the entire family according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

All foodies and food professionals today remember the what Alice May Brock said: “Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian, wine and tarragon make it French, sour cream makes it Russian, lemon and cinnamon make it Greek, soy sauce makes it Chinese, garlic makes it good.”

Today convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization; are each a hallmark of the grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food sales phenomenon.  That is once again the recipe for retail food sales success in 2020.

Bundled meal components allow customers to select from Italian, American, French, Russian or Greek and utilize the components at home any way they like.  The new American meal can be a composite of any prepared food components that the individual may want and they can mix and pair them any way as well. 

Continuing a long-standing tradition in the United States is a melting pot of people from all over the world, with different cultures, traditions and flavor preferences.  The new American meal is a melting pot of flavor and choice.  Meal components that can be mix and matched for home consumption are integral to retail success.

Fresh prepared and portable Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food is now available for all consumers and can be found at Liquor Stores, Convenience stores, Drug stores, Grocery stores, Restaurants, Mobile trucks, and new on-line points of fresh food distribution all just waiting for the taking.  When developing new menu items do you consider where the food will be consumed or how and where you can sell it?

Consumers have been exposed to a plethora of flavors and have not the time to master the skill of cooking each.  The rapidly growing grocerant trend is empowering the consumer to establish new customs and traditions in eating better, more flavorful food.  The Grocerant niche is about convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization.

According to Technomic, other key factors influencing where consumers shop for prepared foods at retail include a clean store interior (91%), food quality (89%), taste and flavor of the food (89%), variety of items (85%), friendly service (83%), knowledgeable staff (82%) and a pleasant atmosphere and ambiance (82%).

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging integration strategy.  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit us on our social media sites by clicking the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter