Abstract
Overview
Introduction
Breakfast, lunch and dinner occasions share many similarities. All are increasingly being consumed away-from-home and all are hugely affected by time pressures. As a result, informality is a trend that characterizes each occasion. Meal occasions are also becoming lighter too - a phenomenon influenced by a desire to eat more healthily throughout the day and to simply "grab a quick bite".
Scope
- Insightful consumer survey data conveying attitudes and behaviors for each of the core mealtimes and how eating patterns vary by segment and occasion
- Detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of consumer behavior assessing where, when and why they choose to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Extensive evaluation of best practice NPD and marketing campaigns that have successfully targeted changing mealtime occasions.
- Detailed Action Points pinpointing how to devise effective strategies appealing to the changing attitudes and behaviors of European and US consumers
Report Highlights
There is now a relatively strong cultural norm of skipping breakfast in both Europe and the US. In 2005, a typical European skipped 18.5% of breakfast occasions which equates to 67.5 occasions per year. An average American skipped 58.6 breakfasts - equivalent to 16% of all occasions.
Time pressed consumers increasingly turn to ready meals. The European ready market will be worth US$ 21.7bn by 2010, up from US$ 14.0bn in 2000. In the US, the market is forecast to be worth US$ 16.9bn in 2010, up from US$14.7bn in 2000. The Italian, Spanish and German markets are forecast to grow the most in the next 5 years.
Health needs increasingly impact all mealtime occasions. In July 2006, 68% of US consumers reported that they had "taken active steps to eat more healthily" over the previous 12 months. This compared with 75% of respondents in the UK and 64% of respondents in France, Germany, Italy and Spain collectively.
Reasons to Purchase
- Obtain a comprehensive understanding of the key trends influencing breakfast, lunch and dinner occasions.
- Access a broad range of data including consumption frequencies by daypart, relevant market data and consumer survey insight
- Learn how to tailor your product portfolios and marketing campaigns to effectively target consumers' changing eating patterns.
Table of Contents
- CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- The hot topic
- The future decoded
- Time pressured consumers are prone to skipping main meals
- Meals are increasingly consumed out-of-home
- Consumers are increasingly eating lighter main meals
- There are age and gender variances in the propensity to skip meals
- Breakfasts are increasingly informal, lighter, and are important for consumers' overall wellbeing
- Lunches are increasingly informal, lighter and consumed in a broader range of locations
- Evening meals are increasingly diverse and contradictory in nature
- Convenience and health-driven consumption is detracting from mealtime enjoyment
- Health increasingly impacts all meal occasions
- Action points
- CHAPTER 2 THE FUTURE DECODED
- Introduction
- TREND: Time pressured consumers are prone to skipping main meals
- Europeans and North American consumers skip more than 15 per cent of
breakfasts
- Breakfast is more commonly skipped in Europe
- Skipping lunch is most common in the US and is missed less often in Europe
- Dinners are also being skipped more frequently
- Europeans and North American consumers skip more than 15 per cent of
breakfasts
- TREND: Meals are increasingly consumed out-of-home
- Convenience is the biggest driver of out-of-home consumption
- Breakfast is mostly consumed in-home, but out-of home growth is higher
- Lunch is the most frequently consumed out-of-home meal
- Most dinners are eaten in-home, though out-of-home growth is strong
- TREND: Consumers are increasingly eating lighter main meals
- Light meals are consumer defined but do share common characteristics
- Convenience and health are driving the trend towards light meals
- Light meal consumption can be associated with grazing throughout the day
- Light meal consumption is highest at breakfast and lunch
- Consumers are also increasingly eating light meals in-between main
meals
- There is a trend towards "light meal snack occasions"
- New and emerging occasions exist in light of dissolving dayparts
- INSIGHT: There are age and gender variances in the propensity to skip
meals
- Young adults and early mid-lifers are most prone to skipping main meals
- Consumers aged 14-34 skip over 100 breakfasts per year in many countries
- Males are more likely to skip meals than females
- Ethnicity also affects propensity to skip breakfast
- Young adults and early mid-lifers are most prone to skipping main meals
- INSIGHT: Breakfasts are increasingly informal, lighter, and are
important for consumers' overall wellbeing
- The majority of breakfasts are still eaten at-home
- Breakfasts are increasingly characterized by speed and informality
- The growth of cereal bars reflects the trend towards convenience
- Cereal remains a popular, convenient choice
- Breakfast is increasingly defined as light by consumers
- Skipping meals, especially breakfast has a negative affect on
performance and other broader lifestyle factors
- Eating breakfast is associated better overall daily nutritient intake
- Breakfast is associated with better physical performance and general healthier behaviors
- Eating breakfast helps individuals maintain a healthy weight
- Skipping meals leads to a spike in insulin levels
- INSIGHT: Lunches are increasingly informal, lighter and consumed in a
broad range of locations
- Lunch is typically consumed away-from-home
- Lunch occasions are increasingly informal
- Lunch is when consumers are most likely to eat a light meal
- INSIGHT: Evening meals are increasingly diverse and contradictory in
nature
- Consumers are keen to simplify the meal preparation and consumption
process
- Work-life balance problems impact consumer lifestyles, including meal habits
- Mealtime preparation is one of the major lifestyle activities affected by lack of time and work-life balance problems
- Preparation and consumption time is typically kept to a minimum
- Time pressed consumers turn to prepared meals in the evening
- Mealtime informality reflects the growth of prepared meals
- Making prepared meals healthier and enhancing sensory appeal will boost usage occasions further
- Bulk-buying of dinners is a new phenomenon that is taking the US by storm
- Dinners are becoming lighter
- There has been a conscious effort to re-prioritize evening meals
- The evening meal is when parents want to facilitate proper family time
- Consumers are seeking to improve their work-life balance
- Preparing a home-cooked meal is still considred important, even if consumers are doing it less
- Consumers are keen to simplify the meal preparation and consumption
process
- INSIGHT: Convenience and health driven consumption is detracting from
mealtime enjoyment
- Excitement and enjoyment are vital factors influencing mealtime consumption choices
- Consumers are not always excited by their mealtime choices making them
disengaged shoppers
- Those who enjoy cooking are also those who enjoy eating
- INSIGHT: Health increasingly impacts all meal occasions
- Pursuing a better diet is equated with better mental and physical wellbeing
- Consumers are reporting a growing propensity to eat healthily
- Consumers report difficulties eating healthily away from home
- There is a strong need emerging for healthy and convenient meal solutions
- Consumers struggle to satisfy their needs for healthy and convenient food solutions when out-of-home
- A broad range of nutritional concerns characterize today's consumers
- Consumers are seeking more information on healthy eating
- Conclusion
- CHAPTER 3 ACTION POINTS
- Introduction
- ACTION: Target the health and wellness trend in mealtime consumption
- Create "better for you products" with a focus on what's added and what's removed
- Clearly communicate 'better for you' product development techniques in order to (re)gain consumer trust
- Educate consumers against the pitfalls of skipping meals, especially
breakfast
- Bring breakfast into consumers' consciousness
- Make health a key focal point with future prepared meal innovations
- Become an information resource for healthy living
- Embrace interactive online content in a more creative way
- Satisfy the unfulfilled demand for healthy and convenient food
- Extend brands with already established health credentials
- ACTION: Seek to bring the enjoyment factor back into food preparation
and consumption
- Consider how to get consumers more engaged in the meal preparation
process
- Encourage experimentation by using celebrity chefs and 'persuasive advertising'
- Use sampling campaigns to alleviate consumers quality concerns
- Embrace sensory and experiential marketing
- Bring brands to life through campaigns that offer "branded experiences"
- Focus on sensory attributes to bring products into consumers' consciousness
- Leverage the authentic credentials of products and brands
- Provide consumers with detailed stories about brands and food preparation
- Develop product ranges that are based on traditional/local cooking methods
- Draw more attention to authentic ethnic offerings
- Re-align products to reflect changing perceptions of luxury
- Target consumers desire to replicate out-of-home dining quality when at-home
- Consider how to get consumers more engaged in the meal preparation
process
- ACTION: Offer a broad range of product solutions across the meal
preparation spectrum
- Develop full meal kits to tempt convenience gourmets
- Become an information resource and campaigner for improved family time
- Show understanding and sensitivity to consumers' problems of making time for sit-down family meals
- Target the desire to experience "real meals"
- Help parents become more involved in the meal preparation process
- Use 'home-cooked' or 'slow-cooked' ideology when marketing future prepared meal solutions
- ACTION: Target the trend towards lighter main meals
- Primarily target females for lighter and healthier breakfast, lunch
and dinner options
- Males can be targeted with more substantive fills for between meal consumption
- Develop 'flexibly positioned' products ban be positioned across
dayparts
- Target consumers' tendancy to see food products as 'all day consumables'
- Seek to legitimize 'flexi-eating' habits to generate extra consumption occasions
- Primarily target females for lighter and healthier breakfast, lunch
and dinner options
- ACTION: Offer convenient out-of-home solutions
- Develop product formats more suitable for on-the-go eating
- Explore new foodservice concepts
- There may even be opportunities for a CPG branded foodservice offering
- ACTION: Show awareness of changing demographics
- Adopt the principles of ageless marketing into targeting strategies
- Develop products that target smaller household sizes
- CHAPTER 4 APPENDIX
- Definitions
- Research methodology
- Future readings
- How to contact experts in your industry
- List of Tables
- Table 1: Number of missed breakfast occasions per person per year, by country, 2005-2010
- Table 2: Number of missed lunch occasions per person per year, by country, 2005-2010
- Table 3: Number of missed dinner occasions per person per year, by country, 2005-2010
- Table 4: The number of in-home breakfasts versus out-of-home breakfasts, by country, 2005-2010
- Table 5: The value of in-home breakfasts versus out-of home breakfasts (US$ billions), by country, 2005-2010
- Table 6: The number of in-home lunches versus out-of-home lunches, by country, 2005-2010
- Table 7: The value of in-home lunches versus out-of home lunches, by country, 2005-2010
- Table 8: The number of in-home dinners versus out-of-home dinners, by country, 2005-2010
- Table 9: The value of in-home dinners versus out-of home dinners, by country, 2005-2010
- Table 10: Number of light breakfast occasions (overall per person per year), by country, 205-2010
- Table 11: Number of light lunch occasions (overall per person per year), by country, 205-2010
- Table 12: Number of light dinner occasions (overall per person per year), by country, 205-2010
- Table 13: Number of light meal occasions (overall and per person per year), by country, 2005-2010
- Table 14: The number of missed breakfasts per person per year, by age and country, 2005
- Table 15: The number of missed lunches per person per year, by age and country, 2005
- Table 16: The number of missed dinners per person per year, by age and country, 2005-2010
- Table 17: The number of missed dinners per person per year, by gender and country, 2005
- Table 18: Overall and per person per year number of breakfast occasions in the UK, Europe and the US, by location, 2005-2010
- Table 19: Average time taken by consumers to prepare meals by daypart, US and Europe, 2004
- Table 20: Per capita expenditure on cereal bars (US$/head), by country, 2000-2010
- Table 21: Per capita expenditures on breakfast cereals (hot and ready-to-eat), (US$/head) by country 2000-2010
- Table 22: The number of light breakfast occasions, by age, gender and country, 2005
- Table 23: Overall and per person per year number of lunch occasions in the UK, Europe and the US, by location, 2005-2010
- Table 24: The number of light lunch occasions per year, by age, gender and country, 2005-2010
- Table 25: Consumer survey: frequency of preparing a quick-and-easy and 'restaurant-style gourmet meal' at home, by country, 2006
- Table 26: Total and per capita ready meal market value (US$bn) and (US$), by country, 2000-2010
- Table 27: The number of light dinner occasions, by age, gender and country, 2005-2010
- Table 28: Consumer survey: the importance that European and US consumers place on a number of health related dietary approaches, 2006
- Table 29: The level of trust consumers have in various claims made by packaged goods manufacturers, by country
- Table 30: Convenience-product attributes to instill in offerings
- Table 31: Average number of individuals per house, by country, 2000-2010
- Table 32: Definitions of product categories
- Table 33: Definitions of consumption occasions
- Table 34: Definitions of other terms
- List of Figures
- Figure 1: Consumer mega-trends continue to impact eating habits
- Figure 2: Consumers are increasingly prone to skipping meals
- Figure 3: Skipping breakfast is least common in Spain, but these countries are experiencing the biggest change
- Figure 4: US consumers are far more likely than Europeans to skip lunch
- Figure 5: A typical European and American consumer both skipped less than 20 evening meals in 2005
- Figure 6: There are numerous ways the industry can respond to the increasing propensity to consume away-from-home
- Figure 7: A light meal has traits of a snack and traits of a core meal
- Figure 8: Convenience and health are the fundamental drivers of the light meal trend which is impacting all mealtime occasions
- Figure 9: Light meal consumption is highest at breakfast and lunch
- Figure 10: Consumers aged 14-34 are most likely to skip a main meal
- Figure 11: Males are more likely to skip breakfast, lunch or dinner, although consumers of both genders do so frequently
- Figure 12: Consumers are torn between a need for convenient foods and a desire to spend more time preparing a home cooked meal
- Figure 13: Time saving products are highly valuable commodities to consumers seeking to redress work-life balance conflicts
- Figure 14: Growth in ready meals will remain strong in Europe, but is stabilizing in the US
- Figure 15: Bulk buying dinner schemes are gaining popularity in the US and are indicative of consumers desire for convenience solutions for meal preparation chores
- Figure 16: Consumers across Europe and the US still attach a high degree of importance on preparing a home cooked household meal
- Figure 17: Those who enjoy cooking are also those who enjoy eating
- Figure 18: A lack of nutritious foods available out-of-home make healthy eating patterns difficult to sustain
- Figure 19: Health-orientated consumers are now placing emphasis on a broader range of factors
- Figure 20: To capitalize on the health and wellness trend manufacturers must also embrace the idea of 'positive nutrition'
- Figure 21: Developing 'less bad' meal solutions is the minimum manufactures should do to target healthy meal demand
- Figure 22: Marketing initiatives can help bring breakfast or any other mealtime occasion back into consumers' consciousness
- Figure 23: Demonstrating the evidence behind why breakfast is important requires a delicate communication message
- Figure 24: Factors that discourage consumers from purchasing prepared meals, based on consumer and industry opinion surveys, 2005
- Figure 25: To bring the enjoyment factor back into mealtime consumption manufacturers need to persuasively suggest newer and exciting ways of preparing and consuming meals
- Figure 26: The different levels of experiential marketing can be used to capitalize on the sensory mega-trend
- Figure 27: With more mass market consumers showing a willingness to trade up brands risk getting 'stuck in the middle'
- Figure 28: Manufacturers need to respond to consumers' growing expectations at-home fueled by increased dining out
- Figure 29: Complete meal kits offer a number of benefits to consumers
- Figure 30: Communication cues such as 'slow-cooked' and 'home-made' can help prepared meals seem more authentic
- Figure 31: More filling savory products are well suited to meet male consumers' need for light meal between breakfast, lunch and dinner occasions
- Figure 32: By targeting the light meals trend manufacturers can simultaneously align products with core mealtimes occasions and in-between meal snack occasions
- Figure 33: Through simple re-formatting, products can become much more suitable for out-of-home consumption
- Figure 34: There are more opportunities to target consumers with convenient meal solution out-of-home
- Figure 35: Develop products that target smaller household sizes will be increasingly important in the next 10 years
