Post-millennials (18-25-year-olds born between 1992 and 1999) are extremely engaged with the food-to-go market, according to the latest report from IGD into this generation.
Not only are post-millennials shopping more for food to go than older shoppers, but they are particularly interested in ranges that meet specialist dietary requirements.
Half (49%) wanted to see an increase in vegetarian ranges, while 41% were seeking more vegan food to go options (compared to 22% of consumers aged 26 or older).
Dairy and gluten-free ranges were also something post-millennials wanted to see more of (39% and 35% respectively), while these were only of interest to 24% and 22% of over-26-year-olds.
Rhian Thomas, shopper insight manager at grocery research body IGD, said: “We’re forecasting food-to-go to be worth over £21bn by 2021, so there is a great opportunity for retailers and manufacturers looking to take a bigger bite of this market to really think about how they are appealing to this new generation of shoppers.”
She added: “To capture the post-millennial pound, retailers must think about the way they merchandise products. This is especially true in convenience stores, as we’ve seen that almost one in five (17%) of 18-25s see this as the best place to visit when purchasing food-to-go.”
Post-millennials also show a preference for food-to-go specialists, with a quarter (25%) saying they were their favourite places to buy food-to-go products, while 24% cited quick service restaurants.
Thomas added: “Post-millennials are the shoppers of the future, so creating food-to-go ranges that appeal to them could be a route to significant success. Retailers and manufacturers should therefore work together to meet the dynamic needs of this new generation of shopper.”
