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Demand for premium or luxury products is growing, across all sectors. There seems to be a very real consumer shift towards making sure they buy products that are beautifully crafted, sustainable, ethical and taste superb.
The food and drink sector is no different.
Recent research, in the Food To Go Market Report, has identified a surge in how much consumers spend per head on ‘food to go’. Purchases over £4 in this sector are now close to 35% of all purchases, doubling from 17.5% back in 2020. Producers have spotted this and began to satisfy this demand, with NPD in the sector resulting in near enough a doubling of products in that price point. It is also worth noting that in a post-pandemic world, with the move to different working patterns, that working people are willing to spend a little more on lunch given that they will also eat at home multiple times in a week.
It’s a decent jump in spend, from the historical £2-3 lunchtime spend that accounted for nearly 60% of all purchases previously noted in earlier Food To Go reports.
The other element in this growth is the ingredients being used. Whilst they can be construed as luxury by price point, they are also luxury in terms of how they are made and nine out of ten of the top ten products in this category could be considered to be more ‘healthy’, ‘lower in calories’ or just ‘lower in fat’.
In areas such as alcohol, you can also clearly see the growth of quality over quantity. Smaller batch gin and rum, craft ales and the emerging alcohol-free products show a clear shift to the luxury end of the scale. It’s echoed in areas such as confectionary too.
Producers should be leveraging this opportunity, across the food and drink production sector. From Kombucha in the drinks market to vegan alternatives in the food categories.
If you want to learn more about how to make the most of opportunities and to move your food and drink business to the next level then get in touch and join the Food and Drink Cornwall project.
Head over to the website and register your details – spaces are limited and going fast, so get in touch now to be in with a chance of fully funded support.
