Breaking Down Food-and-beverage Consumption in Canada

0

If you’re a regular reader of Foodservice and Hospitality magazine, you’re likely familiar with the current state of the industry in Canada. You’ve seen the data on declining traffic counts and mused with colleagues over how to best drive innovation in your business. These conversations often have one thing in common — a focus on why consumers are doing what they do.

In an effort to fully understand the why, it’s important to also consider where consumers are eating — both in and out of home. A 360-degree view of Canadian food-and-beverage consumption is needed to fully understand Canadians’ “share of stomach”. The NPD Group recently released a new study in partnership with Neilson called Eating Patterns in Canada (EPIC). EPIC is an innovative source for detailed information on eating and drinking habits in the country. Not only does it provide a unique look at where food-and-beverage consumption occurs, but also delves deeper into the motivations behind Canadians’ choices about what they eat and drink. When we consider the statistics gleaned from EPIC, it becomes clear that there are a few key themes.

First and foremost, food consumption continues to remain largely an in-home behaviour. By a margin of four-to-one, most meals are sourced at home. That said, on any given day, just under half of Canadians source at least one meal away from home. While in-home consumption occurs more frequently than out-of-home, there are clearly identifiable situations where out-of-home consumption tends to increase. For example, being at work or school during key dayparts (especially lunch) highly increases the likelihood of out-of-home consumption. Breakfast also seems to be a bright spot for out-of-home consumption. In terms of share of traffic, breakfast is growing steadily year-over-year while snacking dayparts are all declining. Meanwhile, lunch has risen in recent years as supper has diminished. When it comes to eating outside the home, traffic is moving to lower-priced segments such as the quick-service restaurant (QSR) segment, which has added to its dominant share of traffic at the expense of the full-service restaurant (FSR) segment.

Another key trend identified in the EPIC report was the advent of technology, which is now being used as a tool to entice consumers towards consumption — both in and out of home. Digital (and specifically mobile) technology is changing the way Canadians shop for food and dine out. The use of digital technology to place orders has been growing rapidly for several years and currently represents two per cent of all foodservice and fast-moving consumer goods orders. According to the EPIC report, digital has also become a significant visit motivator.

In fact, nine per cent of consumers claim to have been influenced by a social-media platform when making a restaurant choice. Perhaps not surprisingly, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are the most popular platforms driving this. Furthermore, 14 per cent of consumers claim to have been influenced by some digital means before a shopping trip. These types of influence include digital coupons, emails, apps or online flyers. What we begin to see when analyzing these trends is that the strategies and tactics being leveraged in the industry are often similar, regardless of whether you are looking at a foodservice operator or a grocery brand. In each case, there is a distinct need to understand consumer behaviour and the motivations behind what, when, how and why consumers do what they do.

What also emerges is a realization that for foodservice operators, competition comes from all directions — not just companies within our industry. As technology advances and consumer preferences continue to change, we will almost certainly be met with new forms of disruption in the industry that will both challenge and redefine the way we go about staking our claim to Canadians’ “share of stomach.”

Volume 50, Number 2
Written by Robert Carter 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.