Foodservice in retail continues to gain momentum, with usage frequency up over a year ago. Cost-conscious consumers are looking for convenient, freshly-prepared food at a savings versus restaurants, and grocery retailers are meeting their needs by enhancing the quality and variety of their offerings.
While rotisserie chicken remains a staple of retail foodservice, the category’s most frequent users are looking for greater variety and turning to retail foodservice for occasions beyond family dinners. Breakfast, lunch on the go, and even snacking represent opportunities for retailers to make prepared foods a more essential part of consumers’ everyday lives.
In addition to expanding the menu, retailers can make foodservice a more compelling solution by integrating them more tightly with the rest of the store, catering to the category’s most frequent users, who often pair prepared foods with items they cook themselves. Grocers also have an opportunity to optimize the pace of retail foodservice, not only by speeding up the process when convenience is at a premium but also slowing it down for shoppers who want to linger and enjoy the experience.
This report looks at the following areas:
- A profile of category users with emphasis on the most frequent purchasers
- Motivations for purchasing prepared foods at retail
- Types of prepared foods and drinks purchased
- Prepared food consumption occasions
- Interest in prepared food innovations
- Attitudes toward prepared foods at retail, touching on quality perceptions, health, value and variety
Foodservice in retail continues to gain momentum as cost-conscious consumers look for convenient, freshly-prepared food at a savings versus restaurants.
John Owen, Associate Director – Food and Retail
Market Definitions
This Report explores consumer attitudes/behaviors surrounding foodservice concepts in retail, specifically grocery retailing. “Foodservice concepts in retail” refers to any restaurants located in a store, including grocery-owned restaurants as well as partnerships with existing brands such as a Subway located in a Walmart, or any meals sold on-site that are created by store employees (ie not shipped in from a manufacturer). Hot soups, prepared sushi, rotisserie chicken, hot and cold food bars and on-site alcohol bars are all examples of foodservice concepts in retail.
Foodservice in retail also refers to prepared packaged foods (eg packaged employee-made sandwiches) as well as MTO foods available at a station located in the store, where customers can have a meal made to order (eg a burger station). Throughout this Report the phrase “prepared food” refers to both prepared packaged and MTO food.
This Report segments prepared food purchasers into three user groups to help illuminate the behaviors and attitudes of different types of prepared food customers throughout:
Heavy Users purchase prepared foods at least once a week.
Moderate Users purchase a few times a month to once a month.
Light Users purchase once every two to three months to a few times a year.
Collapse All
-
Executive Summary
- What you need to know
- Market predictions
- What consumers want & why
- Opportunities
-
Market Dynamics
- Market context
- Market drivers
- Consumers remain uneasy about their finances, motivating many to look for ways to save on food
- Graph 1: personal financial status, 2021-24
- Inflation easing faster on food at home than on foodservice
- Graph 2: percentage of total food spending, at home vs away from home 2020-24
- Inflation easing faster on food at home than on foodservice
-
Consumer Insights
- Consumer fast facts
- Prepared food purchase frequency
- Nearly all purchase at least occasionally as frequency continues to rise
- Graph 3: prepared food at retail purchase frequency, 2024
- Life stage and circumstances drive frequent usage
- Young adults most likely to report an increase
- Graph 4: year over year change in prepared food at retail purchase frequency, by age, 2024
- Motivations for purchasing prepared foods at retail
- Taste, quality and value drive purchase and differentiation
- Graph 5: motivation for purchasing prepared foods at retail, 2024
- Younger shoppers more likely to look beyond convenience
- Graph 6: motivations for purchasing prepared foods at retail, by age, 2024
- Heavy users appreciate convenience of prepared foods, but it's the product that keeps them coming back
- Graph 7: motivations for purchasing prepared foods at retail, by usage frequency, 2024
- Prepared food purchase locations
- Mass merchants narrow the gap with traditional supermarkets in an increasingly competitive market
- Graph 8: prepared food at retail purchase locations, 2024
- Younger shoppers purchase in more channels but are less likely to turn to supermarkets
- Graph 9: prepared food at retail purchase locations, by age, 2024
- Heavy purchasers' more varied use of prepared foods leads them to more retailers
- Graph 10: prepared food at retail purchase locations, by purchase frequency, 2024
- Prepared food consumption occasions
- Drive growth by targeting non-dinner occasions
- Graph 11: prepared food at retail consumption occasions, 2024
- Frequent purchasers look beyond dinner
- Graph 12: prepared food at retail consumption occasions, by purchase frequency, 2024
- Types of prepared foods and drinks purchased
- Chicken, whether rotisserie or fried, remains front and center in retail foodservice
- Graph 13: types of prepared foods and drinks purchased at retail, 2024
- The category's most frequent users look beyond rotisserie chicken
- Graph 14: types of prepared foods and drinks purchased at retail, by purchase frequency, 2024
- Interest in retail foodservice concepts
- Cater to frequent purchasers by combining customization and convenience
- Graph 15: interest in retail foodservice concepts, by usage frequency, 2024
- Attitudes toward prepared foods at retail
- Shoppers respond to improvements in retail foodservice quality
- Graph 16: attitudes toward foodservice in retail – any agree, 2024
- For heavy users, speed things up or slow them down
- Graph 17: attitudes toward foodservice in retail – any agree, by purchase frequency, 2024
- Feed heavy users' interest in cuisine exploration and creativity
- Graph 18: attitudes toward foodservice in retail – any agree, by purchase frequency, 2024
- Position prepared foods as a value versus takeout
- Graph 19: attitudes toward foodservice in retail – any agree, by personal financial status, 2024
-
Innovation and Marketing strategies
- Retail foodservice goes on the offensive
- Walmart bolsters foodservice as it upgrades stores
- AI-driven robots make and serve drinks at Walmart
- H-E-B leverages c-store format to extend foodservice reach
- Seattle-based grocer makes restaurant a showcase for the rest of the store
-
Appendix
- Market definition
- Consumer research questions
- Consumer research methodology
- Generations
- Abbreviations and term
Mintel: Market Intelligence Made Easier
The first Mintel Market Intelligence report was published over 50 years ago. Since then, we have provided our unique insights and understanding of consumers, innovation and global markets to thousands of customers worldwide. Here’s why our customers rely on Mintel:
- Gain a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the market: Mintel reports blend consumer research, market forecasts, product innovation tracking, and competitive analysis, allowing businesses to see every angle of their industry and identify new opportunities quickly.
- Make decisions with confidence, grounded in robust data: Each report draws on up-to-date, reliable information from trusted sources and industry experts, ensuring your strategies are based on solid evidence rather than speculation.
- Benefit from expert analysis and practical recommendations: Mintel’s reports are written by experienced analysts who interpret complex data and provide clear, actionable insights you can trust to guide your next moves.
- Stay ahead with actionable intelligence on market trends and consumer behaviour: By combining fresh research with long-term market monitoring, our reports help businesses anticipate changes and adapt strategically. So you’re prepared to make informed decisions and drive growth.
What goes into a Mintel Market Intelligence Report?
Curious about how a Market Intelligence report comes together? We like to think of it as building a detailed puzzle. We start with individual pieces: data from consumers, market statistics, industry trends, and online conversations. Then our expert analysts add world-class human insight and industry knowledge. The pieces are assembled to reveal a clear, comprehensive picture of a market.
The Four Pillars of Our Research
We use a combination of four main research methods when creating our reports, each adding a valuable perspective:
- Consumer Research: Direct surveys with real people, giving us clear, current insights into what people think and do.
- Desk Research: In-depth review of trusted data sources. We use this rich database, plus powerful internal tools that track new products and market sizes, to detect trends and guide forecasts.
- Trade Research: Insights from conversations with industry experts. Their real-world experience helps us understand what’s happening behind the scenes.
- Brand and Social Media Research: Analysis of online opinions and trends. This lets us spot trends, measure brand sentiment, and capture feedback in real time, adding further depth to our research.
For further information about our research and analysis methods, visit our helpdesk.
Bringing It All Together
Each of these four pillars provides a different piece of the puzzle. Consumer research tells us what customers think, desk research provides the factual framework, trade research offers an insider’s view, and social media analysis reveals public sentiment.
Our expert analysts are skilled in weaving these diverse data streams together. They apply a range of quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques to uncover the deeper story, connecting the dots to deliver clear, actionable insights. This comprehensive, multi-layered process is how we transform raw data into a market intelligence report you can trust to inform your most important business decisions.
For a closer look at a Mintel Market Intelligence Report, take a look at the sample PDF report below:
Please Note: All of the figures, graphs, and tables in this sample report have been redacted.
£ 3,695 (Excl.Tax)
-
Download today with instant access
Pay via credit card or purchase order
-
Multiple formats provided
We send a PDF, Powerpoint and Excel Databook straight to your inbox. An interactive version of the report is also available on our online platform
-
Interactive databook included
Focus on the data that matters most to you with a customisable databook avaliable on our platform
-
Save 10% on all orders with the code INSIGHTS2026
Offer available until the end of December only
Next Starts Here
Whatever your business needs, we have the solution. From market intelligence reports to customised growth strategies.
Learn moreTrusted by global industry leaders
We use Mintel Reports, mostly for financial services and ecommerce markets, plus a few retail and technology ones.
As a leading payments provider, we value additional insights into consumer behaviour, opinions and trends that are shaping the many different markets we operate in. Mintel is a very good and very quick way for us to obtain those insights.
We use Mintel to get a view on where a particular market is going, which can support us in product development and help us identify opportunities or indeed risks, it is a very useful barometer of a market’s potential.
Andrew Neeson, Market Intelligence Manager, VocaLink
Working in a customer-obsessed organization means that data and insights have to be at our fingertips. Mintel’s reports help us support anecdotes with real quantifiable insights. The summary sections (which I really like) helps save time by giving a birds eye view of the content before spending time combing through the pages.
Our business review discussions are strengthened by the relevancy of the reports to help us better understand our customers. In addition, the customer service received from the team (especially in crunch periods) makes the process of understanding customer behavior even better.
Ngozi Ngonadi-Nkwoji, Senior Marketing Manager, Amazon
One of the biggest challenges we face is the need to get smart on a business or category real quick.
We are talking to clients who live and breathe their category every day and the expectation is that we will be able to get caught up very quickly, and bring the thinking that can help them.
We need to do that often in a matter of days, so it’s not a small ask. Mintel gives us a very articulate view of category conditions and does so at the speed we need it.
Jeff White, Business Development Director, Deutsch
Mintel helps us when we want to know something quickly – it provides fast answers to our questions. If we need to get a view of what’s going on in a particular market it’s very useful.
When carrying out background research, I find Mintel an excellent starting point.
The fact that it covers so many markets is a big plus for me– instead of having to buy specialist products in each area we are interested in, especially when we only require a brief view on a particular market, we can go to Mintel for help as a one-stop shop. I find Mintel a useful and valuable resource.
Ben Zeidler, Director - Research and Analytics, Tenth Wave
Mintel is really good for getting a handle on a particular category quickly. If we are working on a new business pitch in an area we don’t have much experience in, it’s a brilliant way to get up to speed with what’s going on, what’s changing and what the key trends are in any category.
It’s very rare now that anyone will plough through a 200-page report – that’s why the summaries are really useful. We know they are backed up by a lot of detail, so if you need to go into something in more depth you know the information will be all there for you.
Pauline Robson, Managing Partner, Mediacom
Next Starts Here
Whatever your business needs, we have the solution. From market intelligence reports to customised growth strategies.
Learn more
