Are Grocery Store Customers Migrating Too Restaurants

 

In today's fast-paced world, the average consumer tends to stick to a limited range of about 150-200 different items from the grocery store each year, purchasing them repeatedly. According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, this pattern is driven by a combination of familiarity and convenience but also highlights a growing frustration among shoppers who feel they are being overcharged for essential items. At the intersection of time spent navigating grocery aisles and the rising prices of staples, many consumers are seeking alternative meal options to maximize both their time and money.

The Inmar Intelligence report underscores the depth of this frustration: 66% of shoppers now spend at least 30 minutes preparing for grocery trips, and 25% dedicate up to two hours on tasks such as meal planning, price comparisons, and coupon searches. In a competitive market where inflation has driven grocery prices up by 5.5% over the past year, consumers are becoming increasingly mindful of their purchases, often rethinking their habitual shopping patterns.

Given these market dynamics, the convenience factor is playing a more significant role in consumer choice. For many, traditional grocery shopping no longer meets their evolving needs. Instead, consumers are exploring a variety of alternatives to cooking from scratch at home that save both time and money. Below are five meal options that cater to today's on-the-go consumer:

1.       Meal Kits: Services like HelloFresh and Blue Apron have become household names by delivering pre-portioned ingredients and recipes directly to your doorstep. With the global meal kit market expected to reach $19.92 billion by 2027, these services reduce the time spent on meal planning and grocery shopping, offering a streamlined, stress-free dining experience.

2.       Prepared Meals from Grocery Stores: Grocerants, or grocery stores with restaurant-quality fresh prepared food, are gaining traction. According to the 2024 Supermarket News Fresh Foods Survey, 55% of consumers now purchase prepared meals from grocery stores, appreciating the convenience and cost-effectiveness these options provide. From rotisserie chickens to sushi, the range of ready-to-eat meals has expanded dramatically.

3.       Fast Food Value Meals: Chains like McDonald’s and Taco Bell continue to dominate the fast-food landscape by offering value meals that are quick and affordable. The global fast food market is projected to grow by $87.8 billion from 2023 to 2027, driven in part by the popularity of these budget-friendly meals, which often cost less than the price of preparing the same meal from scratch.

4.       Frozen Dinners: Stouffer's, Lean Cuisine, and other brands have long been staples in the frozen food aisle, offering easy-to-prepare meals that don’t break the bank. With the frozen food market anticipated to grow at a 4.3% CAGR through 2028, the convenience and affordability of frozen dinners make them a go-to option for families looking to save both time and money.

5.       Subscription Meal Services: Companies like Freshly are meeting the demand for fully cooked meals that just need to be heated, offering a convenient alternative to home-cooked meals. Subscription services are seeing significant growth, with the market for home-delivered, fully cooked meals projected to hit $11.3 billion by 2025.

Think about this, while consumers are becoming more strategic in their grocery shopping habits, the search for convenience and value is leading them to explore various meal options beyond traditional home cooking. As consumers continue to seek out alternatives, it is imperative for retailers and brands to innovate and adapt, ensuring they meet the evolving needs of today’s time-starved, value-conscious shoppers.

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

With the Price of Food Up Stocks Down What’s for Dinner?

 

Do we have to cook again? Trying to save money on food?  Well you are not alone, even Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® is wondering when will the price of a meal stabilize?

So, a recent consumer sentiment survey commissioned by NCSolutions (NCS) found that nearly half of Americans feel like they cannot afford their previous lifestyle. Additionally, three-quarters of American consumers say their family has changed how they buy food with prices on the rise.

Looking forward, 85 percent of Americans are very concerned or extremely concerned about inflation and 93 percent said we're in an inflationary time. On the same economic theme, 57 percent are concerned about the country's financial situation, while 47 percent say they're concerned about their family's financial situation, according to NCS.

Alan Miles, CEO, NCSolutions, stated, "For the second time in a little over two years, consumers are pivoting to new purchasing behaviors at the grocery store," ... "Since the start of the pandemic, they've been swapping their favorite brands for what's available. Today, though, value is the centerpiece more often than availability, consumers are selecting brands and products to stretch their budgets as far as possible. CPG brands that meet customers where they are both in this inflationary moment and as prices ease have the best shot at keeping them for the long-term."

Once again speaking of consumer packaged goods (CPG), six in 10 Americans believe CPG product packaging has gotten smaller but costs the same compared to one year ago. Consumers are also still feeling the strain of supply chain issues, according to NCS, and 69 percent say there are fewer items of the same product on the shelves.

Thirty-six percent of Americans said there is less variety of brands available on the shelf today compared with one year ago, the survey found. Other notable findings include:

·         53 percent of American consumers say they find basic food staples more expensive;

·         40 percent believe a recession will occur in 2023;

·         46 percent are buying fewer non-essential items on the food aisle; and

·         45 percent are seeking out less expensive brands in the grocery aisle.

Leslie Wood, chief research officer, NCSolutions, stated, "Though it may be tempting to pull back on advertising, a more effective strategy is to recognize and respond to consumer 'stress-flation.' Brands have an opportunity now to build loyalty and attract new customers with empathetic marketing,"

Don’t over reach. Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions® 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 us on our social media sites by clicking the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Disruption Grocerant Fresh Food Fuels Dinner

Once again, success does leave clues and how and where consumers obtain dinner is a key driver of grocerant niche growth and foodservice channel migration according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

The Debate

Cook dinner, eat at a restaurant, pick-up a prepared meal and take it home, or order a meal or have grocerant niche fresh prepared meal components delivered. 2021 Grocerant ScoreCard found that at noon there are 82.3% of consumers that do not know what’s for dinner.  The same report found that at 4 PM 61.1% of consumers still do not know what they are going to have for dinner. 

The undercurrents of demographic change continue to drive the uncertainty according to Johnson fully 47.0% of Americans over the age of 18 are single and the need to cooking from scratch and planning for them is simply not top-of-mind.  In fact, our ScoreCards indicate that for singles fully 76.2% top choice is ‘where to pick up dinner’.

The Choice Cook or Up-Pick-Up Meal Components

Where to buy fresh food has evolved. Consumers today have a plethora of choices for when it comes to dinner.  Traditionally consumers would buy food at a grocery store and cook from scratch but that was 1950-1970 and then the undercurrents of change began with an abundance of great restaurant choice and increasing fresh prepared food options at grocery stores, drug stores, and convenience stores. All driven by increasing time constraints on consumers combined with an increased lack of cooking skill set for new international flavor profiles consumers have become accustom.

Internal research by Albertsons revealed that 80% of its customers say they want meal kits in stores, according to Pat Brown, the chain’s vice president of strategic business initiatives, in an interview with CNBC. He also said that 85% of online meal subscribers want an in-store option. Albertsons bought meal kit pioneer Plated last fall and is currently rolling the line out to stores nationwide.

Hello fresh has followed suit and is now offering its meal kits at 581 Giant Food Stop & Shop grocery stores.  Johnson reminds us that those meal kits are for customers that want to cook at home and do dishes.  It’s important to note that those meal kits in grocery stores are competing with the service deli where rotisserie chicken and many other fresh prepared meal components are being sold and many are being sold for less than the cost of the meal kit.  

Bain & Co. estimates meal kit sales are “$3.7 billion annually” our Grocerant Guru® reminds us that number is like a cup of water in the Pacific Ocean. Nielsen states that meal kit spending is growing ‘more than three times as fast as other channels’ which might be more important number.

Restaurants & C-stores

Remember that 47.0% of all Americans over the age of 18 are single, and fast-food drive thru restaurants specifically offer fast fresh food fast that is portable and priced very competitively has become a compelling option for what’s for dinner. Fast casual restaurants along with full-service restaurants are increasingly offing delivery, pick-up or third-party food delivery to compete with the drive-thru. 

The National Association of Convenience stores as regular readers of this blog know has tested their own meal kits in stores. C-stores have a decided advantage to restaurants and grocery stores according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards.  That advantage identified by 81.9% of respondents was the ability to mix & match meal components. Speed of service was second with 73.5% of consumers saying it was faster than either a restaurant or a grocery store.

Food Manufacturing Conundrum

Manufactures the ilk of Kraft-Hines, Campbell’s Soup, Tyson, Smucker’s, General Mills, and Unilever all must rethink how they are selling food.  Rethink where food is being bought? Most important food manufactures must reinvest in who is today’s consumers. Food manufactures must ask themselves do our products look more like yesterday than tomorrow.

So just what is your New Electricity? Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Foodies Last Minute Christmas Gifts

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® based in Tacoma, WA, Steven Johnson hears from food professionals and foodies around the world on a regular basis. Much of the time it is about have you been to this concept or that concept. Have you seen, tasted, or tested this new fresh food meal component? This time a year the most often asked question is what is the best food gift for a foodie? 

Well, according to Johnson the best gift to give any foodie is a restaurant gift card.  Yes, even our own very own Grocerant Guru® has found that foodies prefer the ease of dinning out. In a new study the National Restaurant Association found that Restaurant gift cards appeal to 72% of consumers.

Let’s see what else they found:

1.       National Restaurant Association finds 47% of adults plan to give eatery gift card this holiday season

2.       About 47% of U.S. adults say they plan to give a restaurant gift card this season, That number rises to 60% among consumers with children in the household,

3.       “Ninety percent of people tell us they enjoy going to restaurants, so a gift card is pretty much one size fits all,” Riehle said. “They are also a good choice for someone who wishes to give an experience rather than a material item.”

4.       More than half of consumers (56%) said they would want a gift card from their favorite restaurant.

5.       Nearly a quarter (22%) would like to use a gift card to try a new restaurant they haven’t been to before; and

6.       More than one in five (21%) would like a gift card for a restaurant they wouldn’t otherwise get to visit.

7.       As for when consumers use their cards, 20% said they would use the gift as soon as possible,

8.       while 40% planned to save it for a special occasion. When they do use them, more than a third (35%) said they would splurge and order more expensive items than usual.

So, if your looking for a gift for a foodie or a friend consider a gift card from a restaurant or a grocerant niche ready-2-eat or heat-n-eat fresh food outlet.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869

Give them what they Want

Gift Cards

Battle for Share of Stomach