The ready-to-eat segment is experiencing rapid development, following consumer preferences and technological innovations. This category not only responds to current market demands, but also actively implements future technologies

In the thematic session of the Retail Academy at the WorldFood Moscow 2024 exhibition, experts discussed new partnerships, reviewed cases of market participants, and analyzed global trends and growth drivers in the prepared food segment.

Looking to the future, it is worth noting that the category of prepared food will only gain momentum. Boris Meshkov, director of business development in prepared food at the X5 Food block, identified two trends: the development of prepared food producers in local markets and the development of new technological solutions.

Sergey Pavlov, head of the DarkKitchen "Sgrecha" project at VkusVill, believes that the market will move towards even faster delivery times, as well as improved product quality.

Currently, the lion's share of ready-to-eat food producers (62%) is in Moscow and the Moscow region. The regional ready-to-eat food market is now very fragmented, with many small producers. At the same time, the level of food safety and automation of production is very low.

Prepared food is a high-risk category that can cause great harm to consumers. A risk management system is needed to ensure safety. The key system today is HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) - a system based on 7 principles:

// Conduct a hazard analysis
// Identify critical control points (CCPs)
// Set limit values ​​for each cash register
// Introduce a control system for cash registers
// Establish corrective actions when a specific CCP goes out of control
// Establish procedures for verifying the effectiveness of HACCP
// Develop methods for documenting all procedures and maintaining records

Anastasia Korneeva, head of the analytical block at Nielsen, presented analytics on the category and talked about trends. Over the past year, the share of prepared food on the shelf has grown from 6.5% to 7.2%. The category's importance continues to grow in all trade channels and across all geography. The growth of sales in convenience stores exceeds the rates of large formats.

In most segments, the share of the fixed weight format is growing.

The development of most segments is almost entirely due to the growth of demand. There is great potential for further development, as consumers increasingly save on trips to cafes and restaurants.

Elena Samodurova, Director of the Customer Service Department of the consumer panel "GFK Rus", spoke about consumer preferences.

Basic expenses continue to occupy three quarters of the buyers' budget. In the first quarter of 2024, the share of expenses on basic needs increased slightly due to a decrease in the share of additional expenses. Consumer trends are directly influenced by demographic trends: currently, this is a decrease in the birth rate, an increase in the number of singles and the general aging of the population.

The decline in the number of small children inevitably leads to a decline in demand for children's products and brands. The number of 30-40 year olds, who are active consumers and are early innovators ready to try new products, is decreasing. This means that it will be more difficult to launch new brands in the near future.

The growth in the number of single households leads to an increase in spending per person. Moreover, single households have specific preferences: for example, they are more likely to choose the category of ready-made food.

The penetration rate of the prepared food category is currently 89%, i.e. 89 people out of 100 aged 16–69 have ordered from HoReCa at least once in the past year. The average order frequency is 35 times a year.

Ready-to-eat food is most often purchased on a typical weekday around lunchtime for consumption in the office. The most active buyers of ready-to-eat food (9% of all buyers) account for more than a third of all purchases in the category. The audience of regular buyers is biased towards Moscow.

There is a certain proportion of consumers (40%) who do not buy ready-made food. The main barriers to purchase are:

// 32% - ready-made food tastes much worse than ready-made food
// 27% are afraid of buying spoiled food and getting poisoned
// 27% - ready-made food is too expensive
// 10% — have had a negative experience purchasing ready-made food in the past
// 10% - lack of complete information about the dish and its composition
// 6% — do not find the dishes they like in the assortment

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