Lunch is waiting on the shelf

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/6-7

The boundaries between main meals and snacking are becoming increasingly blurred.

The consumer

People eat at home more often than before – partly because of their financial situation, and partly because part-time home office work has become frequent in many workplaces since Covid. The shift towards home cooking increases the demand for easy-to-prepare meals. However, the rise of health trends doesn’t support this trend, as the perception of ready meals as regards healthiness is often negative.

Some Hungarian experts believe that people tend to buy convenience products on impulse, typically during the weekday, when they are looking for a tasty but quick option for lunch or dinner. Others say due to the convenience nature of these foods, purchases tend to be planned in advance. Lack of time and energy for cooking is still the primary reason for choosing convenience products. Consumers are happy to use pre-cooked ingredients as part of home-cooked meals – solutions that save them time and effort, while providing the sensation of freshly prepared food – and that is where food manufacturers need to help them.

_{Convenience products by retailers provide a great alternative to expensive ready-to-eat food ordering}

The retailer

Eszter Varga
external communications manager
Tesco

Demand for convenience products is clearly growing and sales are increasing, says Eszter Varga, external communications manager of Tesco. This also requires a continuous expansion of the product selection.

“In our experience there is a growing customer base specifically looking for such products. Buying ready meals is typically planned rather than impulse. Demand is on the rise mainly for products that are healthy, free-from or have a particular flavour, but it is also apparent that this buyer group is still quite small”,

explains Eszter Varga.

In recent years it has become much more expensive to order meals online, so products available from chain stores offer a good alternative.

In this analysis, we highlight three fast-growing areas of convenience products: frozen foods, the instant noodles category and the specific needs of the catering sector.

“In the last two years there was a double-digit price increase in the breaded meat category, and consumers have responded to this by cutting back on buying frequency and quantity, or switching to cheaper products”,

analyses Tünde Matyasovszky, senior brand manager of Bonafarm Zrt.

With the changing eating habits of the younger generations and the popularity of fast food and street food, snacks or snack-type products such as meatballs or nuggets with sauce represent an excellent alternative for more casual meals or even on the go.

_{The deli sandwiches sell well in all shop types and the demand for them is growing in Hungary, too}

Dehydrated

For the time being instant noodles is a growing trend. Péter Illés, sales manager of Nissin: “The actual size of the Hungarian instant noodle market is difficult to define, because NIQ data doesn’t include the quantity sold in the independent retail channel, but my estimation is that Hungarian consumers could have bought up to 50 million instant noodle products in 2023. Nissin’s market share is around 50%”. The current economic situation favours the sales growth of cheaper products in a bag, but the double-digit sales growth of instant noodles in a cup continues. Regular instant noodle buyers tend to choose the brand they are used to, occasionally purchase larger quantities, and are only a little price-sensitive. However, price is important for those who buy smaller quantities or less frequently, with other values of the product being secondary.

Compromises

Tímea Tulkán, own brand and commercial activities manager of METRO:

Tímea Tulkán
own brand and commercial activities manager
METRO

“In catering the added value is that fresh ingredients are processed right there in the kitchen, so convenience products are a compromise and always compensate for something – most often a lack of workforce”.

Convenience product sales are up 22% in comparison with the same period of last year, including in terms of units sold. METRO expects this performance to improve further in the period ahead, up to 35%. There is a large selection of convenience products available, but the most popular product is the METRO Chef large potato cube in 10kg packs.

METRO’s own brand frozen desserts, prepared vegetables and meat products are the most sought-after convenience products – the latter are produced in their FSD centre in Budakalász. HoReCa is also formulating new demands in the convenience category, but the company has to pay attention to which areas of the sector they are developing for: for example in the canteen segment they have to comply with strict regulations on salt content and additives. //

Good quality has great value

Tünde Matyasovszky
senior brand manager
Bonafarm

A segment that has found itself again

Judit Szalai
commercial manager
Eisberg Hungary

New Eisberg Colour Bowls offer a quick, convenient and nutritious solution for work and on-the-go meals. These salad bowls are complex main courses, with protein sources – meat, fish, cheese or eggs – and cereals in addition to fresh salads. The first few months of this year have shown that this segment is finding itself again, with sales expected to be at or close to pre-inflationary levels. Eisberg also has three new salad oils: cold-pressed vegetable oils in a variety of flavours and with lots of valuable nutrients. //