Revolution on Supermarket Shelves: the Value Added Is Convenience
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Revolution on Supermarket Shelves: The Value Added Is Convenience Allen Bildner, chairman, Food Marketing Institute, Washington, DC, and chairman, Ki72gs Super Markets, West Caldtvell, Nf Driven by new lifestyles that leave both husband and wife work in 55.9 consumers with less time for cooking percent of the households, reducing and shopping, a revolution is under- the cooking time for both spouses. way on the shelves of supermarkets. The Census Bureau reports another The food industry has developed a 23.9 percent of the households are vast array of foods that put an accent occupied by singles, a hardworking on convenience: microwave products, and hardplaying group that by and both frozen and shelf-stable, and pre- large prefers to minimize time in the cooked and refrigerated foods in kitchen. every department of the With everyone working, leisure supermarket—deli, baker^\ produce, time had diminished to an average of seafood, and meat. At the same time, 2 ¥2 hours a day, according to a Rand these new foods deliver the good Corporation study—down from taste, nutrition, and economy that nearly 4 hours in the early 1970's. educated consumers demand. Both men and women want to spend The push for convenience extends less time cooking, according to their well beyond the business of market- 1987 survey of 2,000 adults. How ing food, as supermarkets broaden much time would they like to spend the concept of "one-stop shopping," per meal? For women, the ideal was saving consumers extra trips to other 30 minutes, and for men only 15 retail outlets. It is not uncommon at minutes. Can you imagine such a supermarkets today to find flowers, response 10 or 20 years ago? books, magazines, cosmetics, batter- No wonder more than 65 percent ies, stationery, and postage stamps. of all households now have micro- Many services are now available: drug wave ovens, and the number is pro- prescriptions, movie rentals, and jected to exceed 80 percent by 1990. photo developing. According to the annual study Trends: Consumer Attitudes & the Super- Changing Lifestyles market, a national, projectable survey of 1,000 persons, conducted by the These developments did not emerge Food Marketing Institute (FMI), 69 as new ventures trying to create a percent of consumers have changed market or stimulate a latent demand. their cooking behavior over the last 3 They responded to basic lifestyle to 5 years. Of those who have changes that coalesced in the 1980's. changed, 25 percent in 1987 and 17 According to the Bureau of Labor Sta- percent in 1988 reported "more tistics, as many as 55 million women microwaving." work in the United States outside the The push for convenience also is home today, representing S2.5 per- reflected in the growth of the cartyout cent of all women, leaving little time food market, which accounts for 15 and energy for ambitious cooking, cents out of every dollar consumers except for a few times a week. In fact, spend on food in restaurants and 120 I Mariéetíng U.S. Agriculture Consumen like the time-saving convenience of microwave ovens. (Magic Chef) supermarkets, according to Shopping advances in processing brought cook- à la Carte, a 1987 study cosponsored ing time down from 6 hours to 60 by FMl and the Campbell Soup Com- minutes. Today, with a deluge of mi- pany. By comparison, restaurants take crowave, refrigerated, and shelf-stable in 19 cents out of every food dollar. products and sophisticated packaging, Even among re.staurants, the largest we are closing in on the 60-second growth area is carryout food, reaching mark. a new high of 44 percent of total traf- Consumers spent $760 million on fic in 1987, reports Restaurant Busi- microwave foods in 1987—up 64 ness magazine. percent from the previous year, The food industry identified these according to the market research firm consumer trends through national Selling Areas Marketing, Inc./Burke. surveys, surveys targeting special Frozen foods in general are selling classes or ethnic groups, fcx:us-group well, both for microwave and conven- studies, and consumer advisory pan- tional ovens. Of course frozen foods els. Some of the most sophisticated always have offered convenience as methods use the data collected an inherent value. The important through the scanning of individual change is their improved taste and items at the checkout counter. All this quality and the addition of nutritional research and the pressure of competi- brands with reduced levels of calo- tion prompted the industry to meet ries, sodium, and cholesterol. the consumer's craving for conven- ience in a fast and furious manner. New Products New microwave products are prolif- Deluge of Convenience Foods erating at an unprecedented pace— 284 new items in 1987, up 71 percent Food manufacturers have focused on from 1986. Many of the newest dishes convenience since the advent of can- aim at more discriminating tastes: ning more than a century ago. After sweet and sour chicken, boneless World War II, frozen foods and beef ribs, linguine with white clam Netv or Better Products To Meet Demand 121 sauce, coq au vin, manicotti in marin- Cream. The two main ingredients, ice ara sauce. cream and ftïdge, are affected by mi- crowaves over different lengths of New Packaging time. The fudge is heated first, after The packaging often doubles as ttie only 30 seconds, and well before the serving dish, eliminating the need for ice cream. You can remove the dish consumers to clean up after the meal. after half a minute with hot fudge and An increasing number of products are cold ice cream. available in aseptic, shelf-stable pack- ages. These may be stored at room Convenient Shopping temperatures in pantries for several months with no danger of spoilage. Supermarkets have responded to the Consumers have not yet embraced craving for convenience in numerous the shelf-stable products because they ways. More than 150 products on are skeptical that these can be as supermarkets shelves can be pre- fresh and nutritious as the frozen and pared in less than 5 minutes, and fresh akernatives. These misconcep- many can be "microwaved" in just 2 tions should fade with time and minutes. education. FMI's Tr^Wiis survey asks consu- mers to report on the availability of New Technological Developments new products and services in super- Manufacturers of microwave products markets. This measures the new offer- have overcome technological obsta- ings that have impressed consumers. cles in recent years—notably how to In 1988, three of the top four items bake in an oven that does not gener had a convenience value: ate the type of heat needed to crisp 1. Food products designed espe- and brown foods. Several years ago, cially for microwave cooking (93 this barrier seemed insurmountable, percent) but suppliers have overcome it with 2. Unbranded or generic products the "susceptor plate," a thin layer of (85 percent) powdered aluminum laminated 3. Delicatessen or other carryout under plastic that absorbs heat and food items (80 percent) radiates it onto the food. The plate is 4. Partially prepared foods that bulk into the packaging of pizzas and require less time to prepare at home casseroles. For cake and brownie (77 percent) mixes, Pillsbury flirnishes a reusable Other items on the list reflect the microwave baking pan that produces growth of one-stop shopping, saving the same effect. customers trips to other businesses: ConAgra, Inc. recently solved the photo refmishing (50 percent), video problem of cooking time for micro- rentals (44 percent), automatic teller wave ovens of different wattages. Its machines (35 percent), postage "microready indicator," a thin strip on stamps (34 percent), prescription the top of the container, changes drug counter (27 percent). color when the food is ready. Manu- Supermarkets are delivering con- facturers also are making microwave venience in quick and easy recipes products convenient and safe for on how to prepare foods. In-store children—presenting the instructions videos and computers provide prod- in pictures and words. uct and nutritional information in a A feature of the technology led to concise and entertaining manner. one of the more improbable pro- Many grocers are reducing prepara- ducts: the microwavable hot fudge tion time by selling foods already cut sundae by Steve's Homemade Ice for cooking or consumption, such as 122 1 Marketing U.S. Agriculture pineapple sections and meats cut for At Kings Super Markets, the grow- scaloppine, stir-flying, and kebabing. ing sales of produce, seafood, fresh A supermarket in Illinois installed a meat, and other perishables prompt- drive-through window where consu- ed its move into ready-to-eat and mers can pick up groceries ordered ready-to-cook value-added foods ahead of time. throughout the stores. And for the Grocers deliver convenience by first time. Kings created a deli, bakery, cross-merchandising related products. cheese, and prepared-foods store For example, they position the ingre- within a store, located at the entrance. dients needed for an entire meal in Marketing prepared foods, they one place, such as putting beef round found that their customers wanted strips with fresh broccoli, mush- foods for dining out at home. They rooms, and green onions for a quick didn't want plain prepared foods— and easy stir-fry dinner. Some have they wanted restaurant quality. Kings suggested the meat department of the sensed this about 6 years ago and future will become the "Entree began hiring chefs to help develop Department." appetizers, entrees, and desserts— and to improve the quality of all its Leave the Cooking to Us foods. On an industrywide basis, the While food suppliers create products reception to precooked foods has suited for fast-cooking ovens, super- been excellent.