Technomic’s Consumer4Sight Group provides in-depth view on consumer habits and preferences.
Technomic’s New Consumer4Sight Group gathered data points from 81,870 consumer foodservice occasions over one full year to reveal a look ahead at the 2015 landscape.
One surprising pattern: More than half of eating-out occasions are unplanned or decided on impulse. At 53% of all dining occasions, the frequency of “eating on the fly” accounts for more than twice as many routine occasions (25%); special occasions account for just 22% of dining occasions.
“These numbers quantify a trend Technomic has been following for decades,” said Sara Monnette, senior director, Consumer Insights & Innovation at Technomic Inc. “Twenty years ago, most dining—even taking the kids to a burger chain—was still a special occasion. Now it’s a function of our daily lives, it’s increasingly casual, and it’s far less regimented than the past days of home meal planning and preparation.”
A closer look at dining out occasions shows that the most frequent are family affairs, with 20% described as a “meal or snack with the family” and most often occurring at a midscale or traditional casual-dining restaurant. A look at the median spending per occasion finds that most come in below $20, with a $6 convenience-store or QSR stop being the lowest spend, and a special occasion at an upscale or contemporary casual-dining restaurant being the biggest splurge at an average of $25.
Regardless of the occasion, open and agile menus are in order. More than half of consumers want customization and transparency on the menu, and 70% want to feel good about their food choices, whether grabbing a snack from a food truck or fresh prepared foods from a convenience store, which 37% of respondents reported doing about once a month.
Learn more about these consumer trends by downloading Technomic’s New Consumer Wall Chart. https://www.technomic.com/Resources/White_Papers/2015_Consumer_Wall_Chart/