CHICAGO -- U.S. consumers, from ages two and up, fuel themselves for the day with a variety of eating and drinking occasions from the time they awake in the morning until 11:00 a.m., according to a recently published morning meal study by market research firm The NPD Group. Its Morning MealScape 2011 study found that 43% of these eating and drinking occasions consist of a beverage but no food (e.g. mid-morning coffee), 24% a small/mini meal, 21% a full/complete meal and 11% a snack.
Just over one in three individuals (38%) limit themselves to one morning eating or drinking occasion while 41% have two or more occasions (e.g. early morning small meal and then a late morning beverage) on a typical morning.
The average number of morning drinking or eating occasions per person per day is 1.4, which, based on the population, amounts to an estimated 420 million morning meal occasions per day, or 153 billion occasions per year that include at least one food or beverage.
"Understanding the number of eating and drinking occasions and items helps food manufacturers size the morning opportunity," said Dori Hickey, director, product management at NPD and author of Morning MealScape 2011. "By developing versatile products and positioning products as both a meal and snack, food companies can meet consumers' varied morning meal needs and maximize sales volume."
NPD's Morning MealScape 2011 study included 27,179 participants, both adults and children (parents answered on behalf of their children, age 2 to 5). Participants reported on previous day's consumption behavior from the time they got up until 11:00 a.m.
The NPD Group, Chicago, is a provider of consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. NPD helps clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, entertainment, fashion, food, home and office, sports, technology, toys, video games and wireless.
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