Are your customers comfortable?



"Food is not about impressing people. It's about making them feel comfortable."
Ina Garten, 'The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook'

Technomic warns food retailers after viewing the results of its most recent consumer sentiment and behavior survey “sensitive to the risks of downsizing”. Bob Goldin, Executive Vice President of Technomic, believes that the rapid rise in gas prices, now at record highs, has raised consumer sensitivity to price increases in grocery stores and restaurants. Goldin says “Consumers are deeply concerned about the price of gas, which they expect to continue to rise. As a result, they are very likely to reduce their spending on groceries and restaurant meals and increase their reliance on coupons and deals.”

The survey found “50 percent of consumers believe packaged food sizes have gotten smaller and 32 percent believe the same thing has happened with restaurant portions. The two main reasons why consumers think package and/or portion sizes have gotten smaller are the desires of food and restaurant companies to enhance profitability and to keep retail prices the same when costs rise; only 10 percent attribute the downsizing to improving the products' healthfulness.”

Foodservice Solutions® 5 P’s of food marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price; are extreamly important in maintaining equilibrium in consumer comfort. Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food is thrown into the mix, consumer frequency and customer loyalty will both increase. Understanding and maintaining customer focused comfort level should be top of mind for all retailers.

Since 1991 retail food consultancy Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, twitter.com/grocerant or Facebook Steven Johnson