Snack culture spices up packaged foods business

MUMBAI: Packaged food companies are rejoicing. There has been a rise in food consumption occasions during the day. What used to earlier be four meals daily, including a snack, has doubled to 8-10 meals among urban consumers.

While breakfast, lunch and dinner have been the established occasions for consumption with an evening snack thrown in, industry experts say new occasions like a pre-breakfast, pre-lunch, evening, pre-dinner and an after-dinner are gaining in popularity.

A pre-lunch snack is said to be the preferred meal among young, on-the-go professionals and the blue-collared workforce. On the other hand, increased health consciousness, especially in the metros and tier I cities, has led to consumers having smaller portions through the day, albeit, more frequently. The culture of putting in longer hours at work and in commute has resulted in late dinners, which makes space for a pre-dinner snack.

The shift in consumption patterns has triggered innovation in the packaged foods market. Sanjay Sharma, CEO, MTR Foods, said a professional today spends around 10 hours at work and an average of two hours commuting. This has given a boost to in-between snacking habits.


"This change in behaviour gave us an opportunity to tap this occasion by innovating and launching our traditional snacks portfolio, the on-the-go dessert portion packs and our breakfast-in-a-cup range which gives a quick meal in 3 minutes by just adding hot water."

There is also a significant increase in the women workforce, resulting in a change in food habits. Arabind Das, COO, Godrej Tyson Foods, said the consumer is looking for convenience and she wants to manage her time well, but expects the taste of food to remain intact.

"We are innovating to cater to such needs of the consumer. So while we already offer her a packaged pre-cut chicken, we have also provided her the option of a marinated chicken as well as ready-to-cook chicken nuggets. We see this trend not only in SEC A and B markets, but beyond that as well," said Das.

Das said the growing number of occasions is driven by the consumer's desire to 'munch on something', with the evening snack emerging as the fastest growing space with a greater variety.

Devendra Chawla, group president (food FMCG brands), Future Group, views food as the new entertainment. "We live in times where instant gratification rules. No other category can provide better instant gratification than food. Whether it's IPL or Bollywood movies, we need food and without food everything seems incomplete. We reward ourselves with food even when alone. When tired, we eat or drink to feel charged up and to meet people, we create food as an occasion. So every occasion now has food intertwined in it," said Chawla.

Categories like frozen snacks, instant pasta, soups and granola bars are being built as "in-between meals". Ready-to-cook packs, including gourmet dishes, too, are making their presence felt. Chawla said while this is largely a big city phenomenon, data reveals that metros such as NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata and even Punjab, to an extent, are over leveraged on these categories.

"At home, too, thanks to freezers and microwaves, everyone is a mini chef. It's common to see kids making their own potato fries after school hours. On the other hand, changes in lifestyle and health consciousness, trainers, nutritionists and dietitians are coming up with plans of 6-8 meals a day. This has increased occasions to consume food."