Newswise — Take note restaurants: Supermarkets are whipping up their own recipe to take a bite out of America's growing takeout trend. According to this month's Food Technology magazine, supermarkets around the nation are making every effort to create meals eaten at home easier, fresher, healthier and more exciting.
Published monthly by the Institute of Food Technologists, Food Technology's article reviews 24 new, leading analyses and surveys of grocery, restaurant, and consumer trends, and summarizes that food retailers have identified adding more ready-to-eat meals as the top marketing strategy in 2007. (See the article for full references).
Some samples of what supermarkets are adding to cater to takeout patrons include:
-Phone-in fresh pizza-Hot buffet-Shrimp and sushi counter -Sandwich bistro-Pasta/Sauces made fresh daily -Hot panini bar-Gourmet coffee shop -Wood-fired, brick oven breads-Self-serve grilled vegetable bar -Chef-prepared entrees/sides While retirement-age shoppers, Generation Xers, and two-person households make up the largest takeout markets for supermarkets, the article notes that retailers can increase sales by targeting Generation Yers and singles—the heaviest users of takeout meals.
Putting more emphasis on attractive perishable groceries is showing to be very effective strategy, as high-quality, fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables are second only to a clean store for top reasons why shoppers choose a supermarket, the article states. It cites a study revealing that nearly half of all shoppers changed their preferred grocery in 2006 upon finding better produce.
The article notes that a significant amount of shoppers are choosing refrigerated foods over frozen. And at the same time, more shoppers are beginning to understand that frozen seafood is not inferior to fresh.
Food Technology provides news and analysis of the development, use, quality, safety, and regulation of food sources, products, and processes—accessible at http://www.ift.org/foodtechnology.
Founded in 1939, and with world headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the Institute of Food Technologists is a not-for-profit international scientific society with 22,000 members working in food science, technology and related professions in academia, government and industry. As the society for food science and technology, IFT brings sound science to the public discussion of food issues. For more on IFT, see http://www.ift.org.
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