A headline in today’s Marketing Daily asserts that a 4% lift is seen for breakfast sales this year. Reading deeper, the 4% figure is a projection from Mintel. Click here to read the story, which asserts that breakfasts will be an important driver of restaurant growth and healthy options will be an important driver of breakfasts.
Implications: I have a few questions, here. Hasn’t breakfast been a traditionally challenging day part for a huge number of restaurants? (Breakfast places aside, of course.) If breakfast was the weakest link, doesn’t that just naturally make it a relatively easy place to increase sales (especially in terms of percentages)?
As a late-stage boomer, I can understand the need for healthier entrees, as expressed by a significant number of survey participants. But time starvation continues to play an important role in how consumers prioritize their workday food purchases. According to their own study, a platter meal is favored on weekend mornings… but the breakfast sandwich (a grab-and-go option) is the preferred breakfast meal on weekdays. (Can you make it healthy… in a hurry?)
The Mintel study—or any research that leads you to understand who your target consumer really is and what they really want—is a very useful tool. But be careful how you use those tools. Research seldom points to a single conclusion. More often, it asks you to consider a range of possibilities.
Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.
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