focus on... roast dinners
40 | The Grocer | 17 August 2019 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
● Enjoyment remains the
most important reason by
far for eating a roast dinner,
motivating more than eight
in 10 occasions.
● However, health is
growing in importance.
Providing bene ts such
as bre and vitamins was
a consideration in 13.1%
of roast meals, equating
to 39.5 million occasions.
That coincides with an
increasing desire for roasts
to form part of a varied diet.
● Another interesting trend
is the rise of solo roast
dinners. These remain a
small part of the market –
accounting for less 10% of
total occasions – but theyincreased by 5%.
● Kantar says adults with
no children are driving
the most growth, with a
7.4% increase in occasions.
Families with children aged
10-plus also saw a 6.2% rise
in frequency.Health gains ground: roast dinners by size and motivation
Kantar’s Worldpanel FMCG service monitors consumer behaviour across Great Britain. Its primary panel tracks
take-home purchases of 30,000 demographically representative households. Data on consumption habits,
nutrition and out of home sales is collected through subsidiary panels. Visit kantarworldpanel.com for details.Roast dinners by motivation (number of occasions)
Roast dinners by size (number of occasions)
Source: Kantar 52 w/e 24 March 2019 For the full data, visit thegrocer.co.uk“Consumers want brands
to deliver across all of
their nutritionalrequirements”
Tinkler sees this as a crucial point. “That
notion of getting together and connecting
is important and there’s a lot of nostalgia
around the roast dinner,” she says.
In that rare moment of together time, sec-
ond best won’t do. A er all, enjoyment is the
primary reason for a roast dinner, accounting
for 82.4% of all occasions (see le ). So even
if consumers take shortcuts, they still want
to feel like they are pulling out all the stops.
Tinkler cites McCain’s Gastro Roasts,
cooked in goose fat, as one product that ts
the bill. Marketed as a potato for ‘extra special
roasts’, it’s proving especially popular with
younger consumers, she says.
Even the standard potato range has under-
gone an upgrade. “We made a massive step
change when we basted rather than bat-
tered our roasts,” Tinkler adds. “They taste
more like homemade. You can now get a
frozen roast potato that doesn’t feel like a
compromise.”
Aunt Bessie’s is also capitalising on the
demand for posher roasties. Its ‘exception-
ally u y’ duck fat roast potato range is prov-
ing particularly popular at special occasions
such as Easter and Christmas.
That same idea of high-end convenience
applies to its Yorkshire pudding o ering.
Dolan points to its Bake at Home Yorkshires,
which rise in the oven, as the ultimate cheat.
“It’s not scratch cooking, but it feels more
like it. Some consumers even crimp the edges
of the tin foil case so they look like they’ve
made them from scratch.”
The proposition has proven popu-
lar enough for Aunt Bessie’s to extend the
range with a larger bake-at-home version. A
“square, Gastropub-style” Yorkshire pud will
launch in the near future to deliver a more
“show-stopping roast”.
In this case, there is no price di erence
between the Bake at Home Yorkshires and
the standard range. For many of these no-
compromise products, though, there is a
premium attached. The Aunt Bessie’s duck
fat roast potatoes come at £2.80 for 700g at
Tesco, while its standard roasties are avail-
able at just £2.10 for 800g. It’s the same story
for McCain’s Gastro Roasts, which retail at £3
for 700g – that’s 85p more than an 800g bag
of its standard line.
That may not prove a deterrent, given that
consumers are generally more willing to
splash out on a roast. According to Kantar,1 person
. m
(▲ 5.0%)4 people
. m
(▲ 5.5%)5+ people
. m
(▼ 14.4%)2 people
.m
(▼ 6.7%)3 people
.m
(▼ 1.1%) ENJOYMENT PRACTICALITY VARIED DIETPROVIDE A PREPAREEASY TO BENEFITSHE ALTH QUICK TO PREPARE .m
(▼ 3.6%) .m
(▼ 10.3%) m
(▼ 13%) .m
(▲ 27.5%) .m
m (▼^ 16.9%)
(▲ 4.1%)