Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/110595
EDITOR'S LETTER Shifting Lifestyles and the Shopper I f female customers and family dinners are the sole targets of your marketing efforts, it may be time to stretch your thinking to include two recent changes in shopping and dining habits. Men report that they are doing more of the household grocery shopping, as we detail in our feature story on p. 20. Though the reported percentage fluctuates among various surveys (not to mention by who's answering the question, men or women), overall, men are finding more opportunity to make food-purchasing decisions. Some of these numbers are an indication of a change in lifestyle. For example, whether due to unemployment or working from home, more men are finding themselves taking care of chores such as groNearly half cery shopping. Whatever the cause, as you'll read in this issue, retailers and suppliers have of all adults in gotten creative with reaching this consumer segment, with everything from dedicated "man" aisles in markets to recipes that give products a decidedly, if sometimes stereotypical, male the United States bent. (Think bacon-flavored tea and cupcakes decked out in camouflage.) now eat most of The other notable consumer lifestyle shift shows that eating alone has moved from an their meals alone— infrequent occurrence to the norm. Nearly half of all adults in the United States now eat an opportunity most of their meals alone. According to a report released last fall by the Hartman Group, a to create meal market research firm specializing in consumer culture, 46 percent of adult eating occasions components that happen alone. The "snackification" of meals, as Hartman has coined it, certainly plays a role in this don't leave these shift. Consumers are grabbing quick snacks as meal replacements while on the move rather diners feeling than waiting for everyone to be sitting together at the dinner table. But on-the-go snacking deprived. is just part of the picture. According to the report, excluding snacks, we are still looking at 40 percent of adult meals being solo affairs. All those solitary breakfasts, lunches and dinners are an opportunity for suppliers and retailers to create and merchandise appealing, tasty meal components that don't leave the single diner feeling deprived—or stuck with leftovers. In fact, the Hartman Group research reveals that consumers want ways to make eating alone easy and pleasing. That could mean more single-serving sizes or individually packed, customizable portions of foods—like appetizers, sides, dips, hummus, olives and so on—that can make up a meal for one. These lifestyle shifts are universal, so no doubt they're impacting your own customers. Don't miss the opportunity to meet their needs by limiting your focus to traditional audiences or meal occasions. Start thinking of the new shoppers—and shopping needs—that you can be targeting. |SFM| By Denise Purcell Editor, Specialty Food Magazine HAVE A COMMENT? dpurcell@specialtyfood.com Visit specialtyfood.com/dpurcell/lifestyles. facebook.com/fancyfoodshows MARCH 2013 1