Before the pandemic, consumers also were more likely to eat alone (48%) during early morning snack, breakfast, morning snack, and lunch times as they hurriedly prepared to go to work or were already at work. But in late 2021, all generations experienced a decrease in time eating alone except for the Boomers, whose eating-alone experiences remained unchanged at 52%. The Millennials and Gen Z experienced significant drops in time eating alone from pre-pandemic and pandemic levels, and Gen X during pandemic times, perhaps due to a rise in eating as a couple and as a family. Many in these generations also moved back in with family due to financial hardships, causing a decline in time eating alone.
Restaurant Dining
In 2021, approximately 24% of eating occasions took place in or were ordered from a restaurant (including takeout and delivery), surpassing even the 2019 levels. Millennials, Gen X, and parents significantly looked to restaurants to address their need for convenient and healthful meals, often enjoying those meals with others. It was also their way of demonstrating their support for restaurants that were struggling to remain open. In addition, although cooking fatigue quickly set in toward the latter part of 2020, consumers, when they chose to cook, seemed to use higher levels of preparation in 2021 than in 2019. On the other hand, consumption of ready-to-eat foods remained relatively stable during these times, while consumers engaging in little or moderate preparation of food (e.g., stove-top cooking or microwaving) declined. But the food-away-from-home index rose 6.9% over the year ending March 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, causing a concern that eating away-from-home eating rates might stall or even decline.
When consumers sourced their food partially or totally from restaurants, it seemed that they intentionally planned to have leftovers. In 2021, about 66% of eating occasions involved all or some leftovers sourced from a restaurant, a number significantly higher than those in 2019 and 2020. For all generations except the Boomers, the number of eating occasions that involved leftovers significantly increased from 2019. From 2019 to 2021, there was a significant decline, from 51% to 34%, in the total number of leftover occasions that did not involve food sourced from a restaurant. It could be that, for consumers, having leftover food sourced from a restaurant (takeout or delivery) has developed into a norm. Besides, consumption of leftovers was a way for them to save and to reduce food waste.
Spending
Due to limited spending opportunities during the pandemic, Millennials, parents, and higher-income households were willing to pay more for food and beverages with higher quality products, more unique flavor, higher integrity in sourcing and processing, and other authentic characteristics that elevated their eating experiences. During those times, many declared that “money is no object” when choosing healthful foods to sustain them during the pandemic.
By mid-2021, food spending was almost equally split between retail and food service, just as it was pre-pandemic. Consumers increased food and beverage consumption more for late night meals/snacks and early morning snacks, perhaps due to their resumption of evening social activities. Although consumers reduced their participation in the other eating occasions, there was a significant increase in the average number of categories of food and beverages consumed in late 2021 as compared with 2019. At-home eating significantly declined and eating at work and at restaurants significantly increased, although not to pre-pandemic levels.
After two years of drastically altering their daily lives to survive the pandemic, consumers began to show signs of an eager return to pre-pandemic living conditions in 2022. But the consumer price indices of all items, especially at-home and away-from-home foods started to increase in 2020. To transition back sensibly to the lives they had led before the pandemic, approximately 86% of consumers began to change the behaviors they had developed during the pandemic, according to the FMI survey. They searched for grocery deals (59%), bought store brands (35%), substituted or changed their products of choice (58%), and changed where and how they bought groceries (48%).
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