International Survey Reports Meal Assembly Stores Saves Customers Money

The International Association of Meal Prep Businesses (IAMPB) today released results from an international customer survey. The survey of more than 1,800 customers from 23 states and Canada found that the majority of respondents enjoy greater diversity in the meals they eat at home, while spending less time and money grocery shopping, less time preparing meals at home, and eating out less. For a service that is often perceived as a luxury, it is notable that most customers are spending the same or less on their overall food budgets

“As gas prices soar, unemployment rates increase and the economy has softened, people who might not have thought twice about their grocery bills have started to notice the impact that these stores have on their personal budgets,” said Leslie Hanna, President of the IAMPB. “This is the first national survey of its kind. We looked across multiple markets – from San Diego to Massachusetts and points in between, and gathered customer data from 18 different stores. Our store owners have always known that meal assembly is smart for a myriad of reasons and what we heard is that our customers get it too.”

Forty eight percent of respondents report a decrease in their monthly grocery bill, while another 46 percent report no change in their bill but now provide healthier, home-cooked meals.

The meal assembly industry has evolved from last year’s “hot trend” to taking its place as an essential approach to dinnertime for tens of thousands of customers across the country. While the core concept of customer do-it-yourself assembly still remains, stores have added on additional convenience services such as retail sale of assembled meals, delivery and more in hopes of expanding their customer base. Though, 76 percent of respondents report that they choose to come into the store and assemble meals themselves. And customer feedback indicates that for a growing legion of customers meal prep is more than just a passing fad.

Economic Benefits & Beyond

Interestingly, customers don’t look to meal assembly for the economic benefit rather they’re drawn by the overall value proposition that meal assembly has to offer. Survey respondents, identified the following primary benefits of meal assembly:

              • 76% - minimized time and effort spent planning, shopping and preparing meals

              • 70% - more diversity in home cooked meals and

              • 59% - eating healthier or less processed foods

 

Other key benefits cited included: eating out or take out less frequently, less time spent grocery shopping, making cooking enjoyable, less stress and spending more time with family.

Fifty eight percent of customers who use these stores report that they spend less time grocery shopping. While 79 percent report spending less time cooking their meals at home. When asked to quantify the timesavings, they reported spending 22.5 fewer minutes cooking meals prepared at a meal assembly store. These figures don’t take into account time saved planning meals and simplified clean up.

In strained economic times, restaurants and other sectors of the food industry have been particularly hard hit. Consumers feeling the effects of financial constraints are scaling back their spending. At the same time both consumers and companies are feeling the squeeze from rapidly escalating food costs.