How Wide Is the Gap Between Wanting to Cook at Home and Actually Doing It?

Source: 84.51°'s “The Future of Food at Home" report, 2024.

If home is where the heart is, it’s also where a lot of the food dollars are going. A new survey from 84.51°, the retail data science, insights, and media arm of The Kroger Co., confirms that shoppers prefer to have more planned food at home across all meals.

According to the 84.51° research, shoppers responded that ideally, they would like to enjoy 76% of their dinners at home, even as they are currently eating less than two thirds of their meals in that setting. They would also prefer to eat more lunches away from home than they are already doing.

While the preference to eat more at home is family clear, it doesn’t mean that turning those plans into meals and snacks is simple. According to 84.51°’s data, 20% of consumers polled said that they are facing a lack of time to cook, up 5% from a year ago.

Trying to balance time, money and the growing number of choices and channels is adding to the challenge of finding products and ways to eat at home. “Customers have a wider variety of options than ever before. It isn’t just along the traditional lines of, ‘Will I eat at home?’ or ‘Will I eat out?’ There are also more tools around meal planning, and COVID heightened the emphasis on delivery at home. All of that has led to complexity,” said Lucy Burke, lead customer strategy consultant at the 84.51° office of the customer team, during a recent interview with Progressive Grocer. “We are all striving for convenience, but the reason is because of that complexity of having more choices and responsibilities than ever before.”

Interestingly, and perhaps ironically, despite their intention to enjoy more planned meals at home, the lack of time is driving some consumers to dine away from home, even if they are paying more to do that as inflation in the food-away-from home sector outpaces grocery inflation. 84.51°’s survey showed that 20% of consumers cite the lack of time as a reason for dining out, up from 15% the prior year.

“When we think about convenience, we need to root that to what the consumer need is when it comes to planning,” said Burke, nothing the findings reveal opportunities to help consumers maximize time and energy to prepare or serve meals at home.

To close the gap between at-home intentions and behaviors, brands and retailers can focus on delivering on both convenience and value as those definitions have continued to widen. “Customers want to be the hero for their family in providing food at home but sometimes they are falling short of inspiration or they can’t get restaurant quality. So, when we think about those decisions and the broad spectrum of planning to eat at home, how do we help them through the decisions and provide that inspiration?” asked Burke.

In its latest report, the data science group shared some suggestions to reach these consumers who are looking for the proverbial easy (or at least easier) button. For one thing, retailers and brands can offer options that allow home cooks to make restaurant-quality food at home and experiment with global flavors that they are enjoying in restaurants. Stakeholders can also emphasize cost-effective and time-saving meal solutions and personalized offers that help customers save money and maximize meals based on data-driven insights.

The new 84.51° report, “The Future of Food at Home: Trends, Insights and Opportunities,” is available online.

The Kroger Family of Companies’ nearly 420,000 associates serve more than 11 million customers daily through a digital shopping experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names. The Cincinnati-based grocer is No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named Kroger one of its Retailers of the Century.