Shifting consumer needs shape foodservice patterns

Shifting consumer attitudes, behaviors, and demographics; an evolving marketplace with ongoing channel and digital disruptions; and increasing competition for consumer mindshare and dollars are changing the playing field for food companies and foodservice operators, reports The NPD Group. The key shifts are how consumers shop, define convenience, use restaurants and foodservice outlets, and personalize health and wellness, according to NPD’s recently released “Eating Patterns in America” report.

In addition to changing consumption patterns, consumers are also making fewer visits to restaurants, opting to stay at home or spend their money on experiences or something else entirely. As a result, restaurant visits have declined for the last several quarters. However, foodservice delivery is growing, which is evidence of the country’s stay-at-home culture.

One of the top factors contributing to the shifts in consumption is the attitudes and behaviors of the two largest generational groups—Boomers and Millennials. Millennials have now surpassed Boomers in numbers but Boomers remain a large population and their behaviors still have a significant influence on the marketplace. For example, as Boomers age they use restaurants less and that has resulted in 292 million fewer restaurant visits per year. Millennials, a generation strapped by sizeable student debt and other committed expenses, are agents of marketplace change as they move through their life stages. They continue to influence “big food” and the restaurant industries with their desire for authenticity, fresh, and social consciousness.

“Although the food and foodservice industries are in a stalled growth mode, there are still pockets of growth,” said report author David Portalatin, NPD vice president and industry analyst. “To grow in these challenged markets will require renovation by some, reinvention by others, and by many a deeper understanding of what consumers really need and want.”

Press release