Neil Saunders’ Post

I get this statement often from brands: “We need a Food Service sales strategy.” This is often on the heels of success in retail grocery channels and D2C and brands are seeking new revenue streams with nice margins. Yes, food service is a great channel, but it’s often conflated with “Away from Home” which encompasses food service and much more. Away from Home is any where food is consumed NOT at home. But it doesn’t mean that it’s consumed or purchased from a place with a kitchen or ingredient prep area. If your product is an ingredient- build a food service strategy with an appropriate pack size and pricing model. If your product is prepackaged and single serve, ready for consumption anywhere away from home, you need to build an ✨”Away from Home”✨strategy. Hit me up if you have questions and comment below if you have experience with conflating or nailing the difference. #coffeebusiness #beveragebusiness #foodservice #awayfromhome #strategy #beverage #cpg

Skimpflation is on the rise apparently. It’s where manufacturers downgrade ingredients to keep prices down (aka margins up). It’s less immediately visible in store than #shrinkflation where they reduce package size and sell it to you at a higher price. But you will eventually notice that your loo paper is thinner or the sauce in your branded beans runnier or less flavoursome. Personally I’m not going to lose any middle class sleep over Marks & Spencer using cheaper Sherry vinegar in place of balsamic in one variety of crisps (consumer demand. Allegedly) But for leading brands to pursue strategies which make products less good makes absolutely no sense in the long term. Lidl and Aldi have built entire businesses on skimpflation, producing products that are perfectly good enough for a great price. But if it goes too far, brands risk commoditising something they’ve spent decades building and offering very few functional benefits over the discounters. It also jeopardises the loyalty of a small section of society who, whilst being cognisant of rising prices, would still choose to pay a premium for brands because of their quality not their price and who may find tracking those products down much harder. Squeezed at both ends of the market, if ever there was a time for smart #brand management and #innovation, this is it. Chris Lock Alex O'Rourke (nee Smith) Laura Gillespie be great to hear your thoughts #costofliving #foodprices #skimpflation #retail #skimpflation #brandequity

Exciting news from Whole Foods! As reported in The Grocer, they are gearing up to launch a series of value products. In their mission to make high-quality food accessible to all, Whole Foods is looking to diversify their offerings. They're on a mission to provide cost-effective options while maintaining their commitment to quality. This move got me thinking: In the pursuit of affordability, do brands feel the need to cut costs on ingredients or other aspects of production? 🤔💰 I'd love to hear your thoughts. Share your insights! Do you find it challenging to strike the balance between quality and affordability in today's competitive market? 💬💡 Drop me a message to talk all things F&B!

This is big time. Walmart just announced a #privatelabel lined called “Bettergoods” described as an “elevated experience that delivers quality, unique, chef-inspired food at an incredible value”. This isn’t your run of the mill #PrivateLabel brand (which already have hit record growth numbers in recent years and represent 20.7% of #grocery industry unit sales today). The line of over 300 products hit three categories: 🧑🏼🍳 Culinary experiences  🌱 Plant-Based ⛔️ “Made Without” (Has Walmart been studying the New Fare thesis? 😎). This type of launch shows Walmart is paying attention and by developing a unique white label that isn’t solely competing on price, but delivering a specific #experience driven by consumer-driven preferences, proves what Americans expect from their food today. Better Goods. New Fare Hallie Bonnar Jaewon Kang Jesse Newman Whole Foods Market #cpgindustry #cpgbrands #retail #consumer #grocery https://lnkd.in/eTHMi6Jv

Forecasting Flavor: Amazon US Grocery & Gourmet Food Category Anticipated to Grow 8.9% in 2024 🥨 Momentum Commerce's Amazon Sales Forecast Dashboard predicts the Grocery & Gourmet Food category to hit $20B in 2024 sales, with a promising outlook across its subcategories. Page through the forecasts below and check out the link in the comments for further insights! (Stay tuned each week as we project a new Amazon category using our Amazon Sales Forecast Dashboard.) #amazonsalesforecast #grocery #ecommerce

🍟Fast food-flation is pushing Americans away🍟 With prices in March sitting at 33% higher than 2019 levels (compared with grocery prices rising 26%) many consumers are asking "what's the point of eating here anymore?" In an already crowded industry, fast-food traffic in the U.S. fell 3.5% in Q1 compared to last year(WSJ) 🍔 A couple quick examples Starbucks reported a 7% decline in traffic, the sharpest drop in 14 years Yum Brands reported its own decline in sales (from 3-7%) across some of its own properties 📚 Read more:  https://lnkd.in/gnVntCq3 #foodinflation #QSR #McDonalds #prices #GenZ

🍔 "McDonald’s Corp., Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Darden Restaurants Inc. and Starbucks Corp. saw the largest increases to short positions during [the past 30 days]. Total short interest in the restaurant industry is $12.2 billion, S3 said. 'If high interest rates continue, we should see discretionary consumer spending take a hit and the restaurant sector continue its downward price trend,' said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3. The industry’s bottom line will get a 'two-fisted blow' if more consumers take GLP-1 drugs — a class of medicines used to treat diabetes and obesity — and their appetites shrink along with their wallets, he said." #S3intheNews, BNN Bloomberg Reporting by Katrina Lewis Compoli #S3data . . . . #mcdonalds #chipotle #restaurants #starbucks #glp1 #ozempic #interestrates #restaurantstocks #stockmarkets #shortinterest #S3partners https://lnkd.in/efyNzs9R

Private label foods and beverages have been increasing in both popularity and market share for years, and as manufacturers continue to raise prices due to inflation, #privatelabel popularity should continue it's upward trajectory. Here are a few key takeaways from the article: 1.) Private label marketshare in #grocery is now 20.6%, up from 18.7% prior to the pandemic. 2.) Some categories see a greater impact than others. Private label makes up 45% of the marketshare in cheese, 38% in canned vegetables and 15% in coffee. 3.) Two thirds of consumers that were surveyed said that they have started purchasing less expensive groceries. 4.) At Casey's, private label makes up 25% of their chip sales. They currently offer 350 private label products and intend to add 45 more this year. 5.) At Walmart, private label cereal is 75% less expensive on average than brand name cereal's like Kellogg Company and General Mills 6.) Wegmans Food Markets now offers over 17,000 private label items and 90% of the products at ALDI USA are private label. Given the slow economy and high inflation, consumers are trading down. Retailers will continue to expand their private label offering in 2024. #foodindustry #beverageindustry #groceryindustry #foodindustrynews https://lnkd.in/gRA8Nt9j

Interesting to see what Couch-Tard is focusing on for the future. One of the areas they are going to focus on is upping their food game, which aligns with a lot of what we see and hear in the convenience retailer market. It will be very interesting to see how retailers like Couche-Tard evolve their fresh food and prepared meals experience.