Dive Brief:
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Quaker is making its way into the breakfast meal-kit business and into the grocer's refrigerator section. The brand's new grab-and-go breakfast trio contains yogurt, Quaker flats and trail mix, and Quaker General Manager Robbert Rietbroek told Food Navigator that the new product is already outperforming the brand’s original estimates.
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Rietbroek says the target demographic is “nutrition-forward” consumers of any age who are looking for a healthy breakfast. Marketing of the product will follow Quaker’s recent trends in advertising, focused on heart health, gut health and long-lasting energy.
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Earlier this year, Rietbroek told Food Navigator that the brand was confident when entering such a competitive section of the grocery store. It also gives Quaker a stronger hold in the on-the-go meal category, which is experiencing strong growth.
Dive Insight:
Quaker’s jump into meal-kits and the fresh food aisle is a strong move from parent company PepsiCo. The demand for in-store meal-kit selections are on the rise as they offer a more spur-of-the-moment and cheaper option than meal kits that are delivered.
According to Nielsen, meal kits are growing at a rapid pace, three times as fast as other channels. In-store kits currently account for $154.6 million.
A recent in-house study by Albertsons found 80% of customers wanted the option to buy meal kits in store. To serve those customers, Albertsons acquired Plated, with kits that can be found in stores under several Albertsons banners. But in-store meal kits can be found on the shelves of other stores as well.
But the overwhelming majority of these kits are tailored for lunch and dinners. How popular is the breakfast-to-go kit?
So far, it’s a pretty quiet market. A few years ago, Quaker partnered with Chef’d to launch breakfast kits, which came with step-by-step instructions and put Quaker in position to get noticed by customers not necessarily considering breakfast options. Since Chef'd shut down this summer, those kits are no longer available.
In-store, there are few other brands making inroads in the full kit grab-and-go breakfast. Amazon Go offers something similar, but it's hardly on the scale of Quaker products, giving the oatmeal brand the advantage of being one of the first into the segment.
Products like this seem to play into what consumers want. A 2014 Consumer Trends Report study, referenced by DayMark Safety Systems, showed 19% of consumers select grab-and-go food items. For millennials, that number can be as high as 30%.
With a well known brand, a head start into the breakfast kit business, and a spot in the popular refrigerated section of the grocery store, Quaker just may have a winning idea on its hands.