Grab-and-Go Grows to Meet Consumer Demand

Ready-to-eat food is available in more places than ever.

OVERVIEW

Grab-and-Go Grows to Meet Consumer Demand

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Making Grab-and-Go Delicious and Convenient
Chapter 2: Grab-and-Go’s Future
Chapter 3: Prepping and Promoting Your Grab-and-Go

INSIGHTS INTO THE GRAB-AND-GO INDUSTRY

The grab-and-go food category exists to provide fast, convenient, and ready-to-eat (RTE) options for people on the go. Once found mostly in convenience stores, airports, and college campuses, the grab-and-go concept has grown rapidly as dining and snacking habits have morphed to fit new work hours and snacking occasions.

grab-and-go

adjective
1. Something that’s ready to take quickly
2. The activity of taking things quickly

As consumers seek out food that’s tasty, affordable, and easily accessible, the grab-and-go market has spread out—in all directions—over the last several years. According to a Datassential 2023 report, 76% of consumers now consider a grocery store’s prepared food offerings before a visit, with 72% of consumers purchasing grocery prepared foods, at least occasionally.

In addition to the limited-service restaurant setting, noncommercial foodservice setups such as micro markets and creative grab-and-go configurations inside hospitals, airports, train stations, hotels, and campus dining halls are benefitting from new grab-and-go offerings of beverages, scratch-made snacks, handheld items, and ready-to-heat frozen meals.

Today, consumers faced with rising inflation and restaurant menu prices are happy to grab a quick and affordable snack to hold them over, but will this be enough in the coming years?

How will the grab-and-go market adapt to changing consumer tastes? What role will technology play in its growth? Will grab-and-go offerings lose consumer interest due to repeated price increases?

This report will explore the current state of grab-and-go and where it may be heading in the future.

Read on for more operational inspiration.

_{^{Source: Datassential, Keynote Report, Supermarket Prepared (October 2023)}}