The rise of the Grab-and-Go trend in modern lifestyle
- Kevin Alfredo
- Nov 10, 2017
- 5 min read
Some grab a bread. One or two grasp a biscuit. Others enjoy snack bar. No matter the diet, one thing’s for sure, people fancy munching that it’s substituting some of our mealtimes.
Image courtesy of Grab N' Go
I decided to discuss about this topic is because every morning I faced the same problem when I have an early class. Mostly every morning, I wanted to have a breakfast before I go the my class but then I still choose sleep over my meal so in the end I didn’t get a chance to have my meal. At that point, it came to my mind that why don’t people make few products for grab-an-go. It will be easier for student like me that wanted to sleep more but have a breakfast as well. Also, for a busy workers that don’t have time to sit and enjoy their breakfast.
Based on article at Today.com, survey that done by the Nielsen organization in 2013 showed that respondents admit snacking instead of eating meals. As a result, James Russo, senior vice president of global consumer insights at Nielsen said that there was a blurred lines of what a snack is and what a meal is.
According to Nielsen Global Survey Snacking, there were 91% respondent that confessed they were snacking throughout the day. The study discovered that people are frequently replacing snacks with meals. Globally, 45% of people admit to snacking instead of eating a meal — 52% of those snack for breakfast, 43% snack for lunch, and 40% snack for dinner (they surveyed 30,000 people in 60 countries about their snacking habits) (Holohan, 2014).
From that study, I could say that most people like to snack anytime, anywhere. But, the main concern is not all people would like to munch on healthy snack such as celery and carrots. From my point of view, it is because healthy snacks usually look unappetizing, and will not give satisfaction sensation. We need to bear in mind that snacks, even the healthy one will not cause people to eat less. We have this mindset that grab-and-go meals are small and won’t lead to satiety. People reach for snack too many times in 1 day as they wanted to feel full.
Nowadays, Grab-n-Go food has started to boom in the few countries. Each country has their own way of grab-n-go food, for instance, Indonesia with their ‘Gorengan’ or Fried items, Mexico with their burrito, USA with their sandwiches/wrap like “Subway”, Malaysia with their ‘keropok lekor’ or fried fish sausage and many more. Some of them might be healthy or not.
If we go to a supermarket, there will be one section that filled with snack bar and such. Consumers demand for “food on the move” at every occasion and the pressure is on to innovate with tasty products, tempting displays and also nutritious. But of course, to gain all of them, it will cost more than regular snack. I personally enjoy roaming thru the food aisle in supermarket to look for new snack in the market. But then, the main concern for this new product is the price especially student like me. It’s like you want to try to be healthy but can’t afford it.
Country choice concept development manager for food service, Neil Lindsell claimed that consumers are starting to more turn into this grab-and-go meals, although value for money remains as their major consideration, they are willing to pay more for a quality product. I couldn’t agree more for her statement. For me, I don’t mind to pay a slightly higher than regular price of snacks if their quality is really worthy
But grab-n-go food not just stopped at supermarket, many kiosk or coffee shop have their own promotion to entice their customers. Promotions such as meal deals have an increasingly essential role to play, with operators mark down coffee sales, for example, if the customer purchases a food item. For instance, Dunkin Donuts offered the promotion 1 coffee and 2 pieces of any doughnuts for a lower and affordable price rather than you bought it separately.
I found this trend is positive and benefit to most of people in today’s lifestyle where what we want are quick and convenient. That is why this trend could rise and stay for a longer period. Switches in working patterns and dining habits means office workers are a key market. According to Jacqui Mee, director of food at Olive Catering Services, stated that in a busy working environment, people require meals that could be consume on the go or at their desk without throw off the nutritional values. Due to that, many food establishment offered fresh and exciting convenient selections from the typical offerings such as cereal bars to ready-made granola pots.
2 years ago, a new product like Focaccia Romana became winner of the New Sandwich Product Award (bread category) at the Sammies 2016. It is because the dough is simple and used a high protein flour, but it still produce a light and also open structured bread that is easily digestible and stays fresher for longer time.
As you can see, before this trend came up, healthier trend came first. Therefore both of the trends are combined. Even though nowadays convenience is the major preference that consumer are looking for, they also want it to have healthier options. Calories are part of the equation, but there is also demand for products that are gluten free, vegan or made with non-GMO ingredients. Based on Caterer (2016), One in every three people are now selecting food and drink which is ‘free from’.
Considering all the demands from consumers, “Ten-Acre” brand came up with home-cooked crisps and popcorn that are gluten, diary, MSG and GMO free, as well as vegan, halal and kosher certified.
This trend is not applied just for food but drink as well. Just like coffee, there was a rising in demand for quality coffee. Self-serving is popular where customers want a quick serving coffee with a good quality cup of coffee. We could find this machine at 4 or 5-stars hotel specifically inside their coffee house. Even in a High-class university like Taylor’s, there is a self-serving coffee machine that provided for students and staff.
From the research that I have done, this trend could increase profit for some establishments. By analyzing consumer demand and trend, food and beverage industries could use this trend to come up with new innovative products that ticked off all customers demand. It is quite challenging because we have to fulfill what customers’ wants and needs, such as affordable, nutritious, tasty, appetizing, good packaging and able to make them full. Once we tackled all these obstacles, we would be able to maximize our profits since we managed to fulfill what customers demand. Other than those obstacles, it’s crucial to make sure our food offering is competitive and essentially concept need to constantly punch beyond its weight. One of the strategies is that we could change menu every month, or even fortnightly, which seems difficult, but I think that it encourages customers to come back.
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References
Holohan, M. (2014, September 30). A snack or a meal? The grab-and-go trend is growing. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from Today : Health and Wellness: https://www.today.com/health/snack-or-meal-grab-go-trend-growing-2D80183650
Mccomb, R. (2016, August 11). The rise of the ‘grab and go’ market. Retrieved November 8, 2017, from The Caterer: https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/368106/the-rise-of-the-grab-and-go-market
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