Restaurants used to assume their competition was with other restaurants, but retailers improved their prepared-food departments are now offer newer, fresher, and more exciting foods.  People love ready to eat meals because it’s an opportunity to try fresh, already prepared multi-flavor and multi-ethnic foods.

Grocerant: part grocery, part restaurant

The grocerant niche continues to grow in America, especially with large companies such as Central Market or Whole Foods. Meal time is now becoming a form of meal participation, where every individual family member may choose the foods he or she desires. Where we shop nowadays for food is not the same place our mothers went food shopping, nor are meals prepared the same way. As long as multi-generational family’s gather around the table for meals, the demand for a variety foods continues to persist.

Consumers want to prepare meals faster and with more ease

In the 1940’s cooking from scratch was the norm. The average home cooked meal took 150 minutes to prepare. Everyone sat down at the table and enjoyed the same menu. Today’s home cooked meal takes an average of less than 30 minutes to prepare, and in most cases, at least two different types of dishes are served. Furthermore, the multi-ethnic makeup of families is creating a demand for a larger variety of flavors and requires additional cooking skills that consumers often don’t have. In fact, bundling mix and match meal components into a meal is a key force within the grocerant niche. This type of information confirms that take-home prepared foods are driving the success of retail food.

Source: Consumers Want Quick and Easy Meals for Dinner