Weekly Roundup – Week of 11.7.2022
November 11, 2022
Today’s roundup highlights this week’s top food and beverage-related news stories curated by our team of strategists and food enthusiasts:
Changing Gen Z Attitudes Toward C-stores Shows Impressive Growth Potential
A recent consumer sentiment survey conducted by NCSolutions found that “about 92% of Gen Z consumers enjoy the experience at a convenience store, while only 77% of all other generations said the same.” And roughly half of Gen Zers have used a delivery service for c-store products. This is nearly double of all other generations that have used the same service.
Gen Z consumers are also more likely to purchase a product if it was promoted by a c-store on social media. Targeting Gen Z could result in huge ROIs for both c-stores and CPG companies looking to promote new products. Read More.
Shifting To Contextual Commerce Aligns Better With Consumer Shopping Habits
Apps and e-commerce sites do a great job of presenting products in a contextual way based on the needs of wants of consumers and by using recipes and product bundling to enhance shopping experiences. While grocers cannot change their store planograms, they can utilize endcaps and high-traffic areas for contextual shopping. As consumers tend to shop by meal type such as breakfast or taco night, bundling complementary products together improves shopping experiences by saving time and increases the chance a shopper could purchase more items. For example, a grocer who dedicates an endcap to include “taco night provisions” such as taco shells, tortillas, taco seasoning, rice, refried beans, salsa, and tortilla chips elevates the shopping experience by alleviating the need for the shopper to run all over the store for specific ingredients, potentially forgetting a few items in the process. Including recipes and coupons at the same endcap could heighten the experience even more. Learn More.
Food Tech Startups Face Challenges In Commercial Production
Even if a cultivated meat startup has the funding to begin production of its cell-based meat alternative, it still needs enough supply to produce at a commercial scale, according to the Food Dive article. Chief Operating Officer of Upside Foods, Amy Chen, says the company has “already proven they can safely grow the cells to make meat, and they taste good to consumers. Upside’s biggest challenge now is getting to the point where the company can produce at scale.” Cultivated seafood company Finless Foods recently moved into its first pilot facility. Co-founder and CEO Mike Selden tells Food Dive, “Now we’re really able to put together prototypes that we’re proud of, and that are pretty close to a thing that we’d put to market. We’ve been able to achieve breakthroughs in terms of getting into much larger bioreactors and much higher densities than we had previously, which drops our costs and makes this more functional from a large-scale production perspective.” Read The Full Article.
Turkey Is Still Highly Hunted At Grocers This Thanksgiving
Last week we shared a story regarding escalating consumer spending on Thanksgiving meals due to turkey shortages and inflation woes. However, according to a survey from Morning Consult, turkey remains top of the list for Thanksgiving hosts despite inflation and supply chain concerns. In fact, Morning Consult noted that more than half (59%) of consumers said they are not willing to consider only purchasing parts of the turkey because an “entire turkey as a Thanksgiving centerpiece is too important a tradition for many to break.” Even though consumers are looking to save money on groceries where they can this holiday, most are still ready and willing to pay more to ensure they have a whole turkey on their tables. See Article.
For The Fun Of It
General Mills is bringing a “little” innovation to breakfast, literally. The company is launching miniature versions of three of its most popular cereals – Trix, Reese’s Puffs, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch – as an easy way to reinvent its portfolio, making cereals more convenient for snacking. “Sometimes the best new innovation is the smallest one,” Mindy Murray, General Mills’ senior marketing communications manager, said in a press release. Sweetgreen has expanded its menu by offering its first dessert item – Crispy Rice Treat. Made with gluten-free grains, butter, roasted sunflower seeds, and sweetened with honey date caramel, this dessert will cost patrons $2.95. The chain will also run a promotion from Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 for digital customers to purchase a Crispy Rice Treat for $1 with an order of at least $9.95. And lastly, is hangover-free beer a real thing? Nonalcoholic beers don’t cause hangovers, but it is a catchy marketing spin. Inspired by this notion, Athletic Brewing co-founders John Walker and Bill Shufelt brewed 100+ test beers to find a process that yielded a tasty booze-free beer. The company offers a full line of NA beer flavors from tropical and spiced to coffee and citrus varieties.
Come back next week for more of our weekly favorites.
