DAWN FARMS TOP 9 | ISSUE 17

GLOBAL UPDATE ON CONSUMER, MARKET AND MENU INSIGHTS. 

1. PEP’D UP CHICKEN SNACKS

Meat snack brand Peperami has unveiled its first-ever chicken product Pep’d Up and its second innovation this month following the launch of the Pepperoni and Cheese snack box. The new ‘baked, not fried’ snack is in response to increased demand for healthier, more functional, high protein snacks and aims to appeal to a wider audience especially females as well as its core young male demographic. Made with 100% baked chicken breast the Pep’d Up Chicken Bites (50g / RRP £1.29) will be available in Asda, Tesco and Morrisons from May onwards supported by a £3m marketing campaign. 

2.  MCDONALD’S KICKSTARTS Q1  

McDonald’s has reported “very strong” first quarter results in the UK/Ireland driven by its Big Mac with Bacon campaign and new Veggie Wrap sales. It also credits its McCafé range for boosting sales with its +8% yoy performance and says its investment in digital innovation is paying off. Its app and delivery service account for almost 1 in 10 transactions. Globally, sales climbed 5.4% in Q1.  Meanwhile, Burger King USA continues its competitive offensive by offering its Whopper for just 1 cent. Customers could redeem this offer via the app when they ordered within 600 feet of a McDonald’s location. 150,000 Whoppers were redeemed with over 2 million downloads of the BK app. 

3. EASTER RETAIL BOUNCE

Reports so far reveal the warm Easter weekend had a positive result for the high street which offset poor performance in retail parks and shopping centres, showing an increase in footfall of +6.5% on Friday, +1.2% on Saturday and +8.4% by 12pm on Easter Monday. UK grocery shoppers spent a record £2.5bn during the Easter week (Kantar), benefiting all major retailers except Sainsbury’s (albeit Easter eggs and hay fever remedies benefited most). However, shoppers continue to shift spend away from the ‘Big Four’, their combined market share dropped to 64%.  

4. STEAK’N’SHAKE NEW TRADITIONS

A glamorous location needs a glamorous burger. The Côte d’Azur will soon welcome 2 new branches of QSR chain Steak ’n Shake. Established in 1934 in the American midwest, the chain made its name with its steakburgers and milkshakes. However, since 2008, when it was purchased by Sardar Biglari, Steak ’n Shake has positioned itself in the premium burger market. It first opened in France 4 years ago and has its headquarters in Monaco. New to the Steak ‘n Shake range by Biglari is a limited edition Fourme D’Ambert & Bacon, offering some French tradition alongside American burger heritage.  

5. YO! SUSHI LOOSENS THE BELT

YO! Sushi is making probably its biggest move yet since being established 20 years ago.  As part of a company re-brand, it’s removing the famous kaiten belt in order to send a message to prospective diners that it sells more than mainly sushi. Some locations such as airports will keep the belt layout for speed and convenience. The move will see less food wastage across the sites as food will be made to order instead of picked up off the belt. There are over 100 YO! Sushi restaurants, mainly in the UK but also in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. It recently launched a DNA dining concept, YO! Dinner, YO! Way.   

6. TECHNOMIC’S TOP 500 RESULTS

This year’s Technomic Top 500 report reveals the Top 500 chain restaurants in the US achieved a 3.3% sales growth in 2018, up from 2.9% in 2017. Location expansion remained positive (0.7%) but is expected to continue slowing due to high-growth segment maturation and consolidation of underperforming chains. Some 18 of the top 25 chains achieved stronger sales growth than the previous year especially Pizza Hut, Applebee’s and Arby’s. Taco Bell and Chick-fil-A reached over $10bn in US sales joining Subway, McDonald’s and other leading brands. Many top brands also created partnerships with third-party delivery companies such as Burger King and YUM! with Grubhub and McDonald’s and Starbucks with Uber Eats.

7. FROZEN WELCOMES INNOVATORS   

Waitrose is highlighting innovative cooking techniques such as sous vide and en papillote in its new range of 24 frozen ready meals. It reported ‘frozen ready meal’ searches were up by 500% on its grocery website compared to last year. Examples include dishes such as Middle Eastern-inspired Chicken Pilaf, Asian-inspired Beetroot and Aubergine Curry, and Italian-inspired Slow-cooked Pork Belly. Ginsters recently moved from the chiller to the freezer with the launch of its first frozen range of pasties in response to frozen aisle’s “huge revival in recent months”.

8. MEXICAN POPULARITY SOARS

We all know British tastes are changing and now it's confirmed, thanks to new research from CGA and AlixPartners Market Growth Monitor. Take for example the significant rise in Mexican restaurants (+49%), fuelled by expansion by chains such as Taco Bell, Tortilla, Wahaca and Barburrito.  The appeal of bold spicy flavours, street food-style flexible formats are contributing to their success.  Reflecting the rise of differentiated Asian food is the fact Thai restaurants have more than doubled since 2013 while Japanese-inspired outlets have climbed by 44%.  Appetite for fresh flavours and healthy aspects are driving factors here.

9. CONSUMERS: LOST AND FOUND

This week we attended Mintel’s ‘Big Conversation’ event which talked about what companies are doing to help consumers tackle social isolation. Remember #FOMO, well apparently #JOMO is a new mindset enjoyed by the Millennial generation (joy of missing out). While some link the rise in eating alone to feelings of loneliness and depression – some operators are embracing the solo diner, who enjoys their own company and living space. One interesting dichotomy is between individuality vs belonging - as modern consumers increasingly feel disenfranchised by religion and politics, they are finding new tribes online with shared interests. Since the beginning of time, one thing that has always connected people is food and drink.

THE BUZZ | BIG STORIES IN APRIL

Here are the articles which received the most attention from you, the readers, throughout last month. 

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