November 8, 2006
Giving Thanks for Not Cooking on Turkey Day
It’s been said before. Today’s consumers are cooking-challenged. That fact of modern life has turned into a business bonanza for food stores and eateries that are willing and more than able to supply meals for special events and holidays such as the upcoming Thanksgiving feast.
“So much for Grandma’s house,” Robert Butterworth, a clinical psychologist, told USA Today. “I’m for anything that de-stresses the holiday.”
According to Harry Balzer at NPD Group, five percent of consumers bought pre-made Thanksgiving Day meals last year. “Everyone wants to know: How do I get out of this and still make it seem homemade?”
This year, NPD projects six percent will look outside for their Thanksgiving Day meal preparation.
Boston Market began an online ordering program last year and saw sales jump 30 percent during Thanksgiving week. This year, the company is offering a 10 percent discount for online orders. A meal for 12 complete with a whole turkey, spinach artichoke dip with crackers, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry walnut relish, cornbread and two pies costs $68.94.
A traditional turkey dinner for 10 from Wegmans including a 12 – 14 pound turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, herb stuffing, buttered corn with red peppers, fresh cranberry relish and dinner rolls costs $70 (Woodbridge, NJ store).
Others, such as Flagstaff House Restaurant in Boulder, Colo., offer a meal for four with a ready-to-roast organic turkey, tomato jelly and pumpkin cheesecake with macadamia nut crust for $178.
Discussion Questions: What do you see as the primary factors behind consumers buying holiday meals prepared for them? Where do you see this trend heading
and what will that mean for retailers looking to carve out (sorry) a larger portion of this business?
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Cynics! Of course, you’re all right, but still… There are those of us who do enjoy the cooking. (I even wrestled a turducken onto the holiday table a couple of years ago.) I think Ben Ball hit the mark — we’re mostly seeing that portion of the population who hated the cooking but had no choice in the past turning to prepared meals. That said, I ordered a turkey from Greenberg’s Holiday Turkeys again this year because a) dinner is at my sister-in-law’s so I can’t cook the turkey all day, and b) man, I’ve never tasted anything quite like a Greenberg’s smoked turkey!
The time has come for us to decide
Will we cook or get a toil-ride?
We think we’re stressed out with little time
To think otherwise would seem a crime.
Why should we cook for our kith and kids
When retailers give prepared meal bids?
We feel entitled to be treated
With a glass of wine when we’re seated.
The trend is away from home cooking
And washing dishes isn’t hooking.
We buy pre-cooked meals for Thanksgiving
Because we believe that’s “Good Living.”
The critical factors have already been mentioned: convenience and lack of skills. The number of people calling into the turkey hotlines for help on how to cook the turkey has always been high. The number of people who cook full meals of any kind is lower now than ever before — tackling Thanksgiving dinner is not the meal you want to use to try your skills. If you are working until the end of the day of Wednesday, when will all this cooking take place? Take-out holiday dinners is a great example of solution selling.
It’s really a shame that this is the trend. Store bought meals and restaurant meals may be the trend but they lack the one thing that brings everyone together — the talking and laughing and sharing of the family kitchen while cooking. Yes, it’s a chore to cook the big meal but, in the end, it is also a joy. This is where children learn to cook and share; where family recipes are born and shared — even if the food didn’t come out exactly perfect.
There has always been a portion of the population who loves to cook and another that detests it. Used to be, the people who hated it still had to cook to eat. Now they don’t. But there is still an onus on family matriarchs/patriarchs to host holiday events. THAT part is fun. So for those who do not enjoy the cooking part, outsourcing is the obvious solution. But the choice used to be limited to “dine in and cook” or “the restaurant thing.” Going to a restaurant for the holiday meal strikes many as somewhat cold. But who cares where the turkey on Mom’s table came from?!? This trend is going nowhere but up!
OOH YES! I can see a vision of the future in the rising steam off the glistening roasted breast of the Butterball….
*A new advertising venue with coupons and flyers for after-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping inserted with meal deliveries.
*Instant-win Turkeys with game pieces hidden Cracker Jack-style in the stuffing.
*In-store catering of the Thanksgiving meal with big screen TVs so shoppers are pre-positioned to grab a cart right after the meal AND not miss the kick off of the bowl games….
All very true but oh, so very sad.
As I think about everything that is going on in the marketplace, I cannot help but wonder if the folks (both male and female) who are responsible for cooking at home have neither the time or nor the talents to pull off a multi-course or even a basic Thanksgiving dinner.
When I add in the large number of childless households, the divorce rate, and the growing number of affluent boomers I can easily see why more and more people now eat their Thanksgiving meal in a restaurant. Those who cannot afford a restaurant or prefer to eat in their homes can get a top quality “ready-to-go” Thanksgiving meal from the majority of their supermarkets.
It will be no surprise to me if this trend continues to grow in the years to come and that supermarket operators seize even larger percentages of the food away from home dollar.
Forget the old Saturday Post picture; there is no Norman Rockwell. Or maybe not. The old traditional Thanksgiving scene never focused on the shopping trips, the three days of food preparation (“The nice thing about that casserole is that you can make it the day before.”); the stress of way too many people running in and out of the kitchen; or the hour and a half of clean up and wondering how that scratch got on the good dining room table. It focused on the family seated, eating, laughing.
So exactly what are we missing about having ‘professionals’ prepare virtually the same food for us? The food arrives accurately prepared, aesthetically pleasing in its presentation, with creative entries we wouldn’t have tried ourselves; and probably for less money than we would have spent.
Maybe it’s just too perfect and effortless. Years from now no one in your family is going to say “Remember the time we got Thanksgiving dinner from Boston Market?”
What we do remember are the imperfections of our thanks giving. The time Mom forgot to turn on the oven and we ended up with KFC and have been talking about that ever since. How Aunt Elma always brought the same peas and pineapple dish that no one likes and haven’t liked for at least 12 years. And how it was always Fred’s job to bring dinner rolls but insisted that the day-old ones on sale were just fine.
That’s what memories are made of. Maybe if Boston Market and others would burn the pie crust once in a while or have to come back and put the turkey in for just a bit longer they could be part of our memories too.
Who wants to order out for Thanksgiving? Who doesn’t? Of course no one has time to cook. Last year we ordered a cooked meal from a specialty grocer. This year we will be eating out at a restaurant.
The number of single head of households eclipsed the number of the Norman Rockwell traditional married households this year. Those decreasing number of married households has an ever increasing percent of dual working income spouses and they are busy managing their 1 and 3/4 kids. The number of silvered-older-boomer-empty nesters is increasing and has already helped fuel the restaurant boom.
All of these consumers have less time and most are preparing and eating smaller meals. These trends are increasing trends. Having ready to eat meals available for pick up at the store or for delivery, will be a necessity for grocery and clubs to compete with the ongoing “let’s eat out” trend.
Look, the fastest growing household demographic is households with one person in them. We live in a country with serial marriage/divorce patterns. So, which set of grandparents are the kids going to spend Thanksgiving with? Mom’s? Dad’s? Mom’s second husband’s? Dad’s fourth wife’s? Times have changed. Not everyone is in a conventional family situation and, of those that are, not everyone can or wants to cook. Biggest problem with restaurant Thanksgiving? No leftovers.
Clearly, there are lots of people who no longer have the time to cook and holiday takeout, or takeout at any time of the year, has been a godsend.
However, this is also a case of people growing up without cooking skills and without the incentive to acquire them. We have an interesting dichotomy here. The number of celebrity chefs on television is at an all time high. Sales in housewares retailers (including gourmet stores) continues to rise, yet home cooking is stagnant. This is a great opportunity for retailers to not only sell products, but to teach people–particularly younger consumers–the skills they need to cook a meal.
Cooking Thanksgiving dinner together at home can be fun. It can also be stressful and unpleasant for some people, especially the time-challenged. If stress is reduced by having the preparation done by others, what’s wrong with that? The biggest riddle: how can the commercial producers (supermarkets, restaurants, etc.) keep the quality high when the demand is all for 1 single day? That’s the real recipe for stress.
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Cynics! Of course, you’re all right, but still… There are those of us who do enjoy the cooking. (I even wrestled a turducken onto the holiday table a couple of years ago.) I think Ben Ball hit the mark — we’re mostly seeing that portion of the population who hated the cooking but had no choice in the past turning to prepared meals. That said, I ordered a turkey from Greenberg’s Holiday Turkeys again this year because a) dinner is at my sister-in-law’s so I can’t cook the turkey all day, and b) man, I’ve never tasted anything quite like a Greenberg’s smoked turkey!
The time has come for us to decide
Will we cook or get a toil-ride?
We think we’re stressed out with little time
To think otherwise would seem a crime.
Why should we cook for our kith and kids
When retailers give prepared meal bids?
We feel entitled to be treated
With a glass of wine when we’re seated.
The trend is away from home cooking
And washing dishes isn’t hooking.
We buy pre-cooked meals for Thanksgiving
Because we believe that’s “Good Living.”
The critical factors have already been mentioned: convenience and lack of skills. The number of people calling into the turkey hotlines for help on how to cook the turkey has always been high. The number of people who cook full meals of any kind is lower now than ever before — tackling Thanksgiving dinner is not the meal you want to use to try your skills. If you are working until the end of the day of Wednesday, when will all this cooking take place? Take-out holiday dinners is a great example of solution selling.
It’s really a shame that this is the trend. Store bought meals and restaurant meals may be the trend but they lack the one thing that brings everyone together — the talking and laughing and sharing of the family kitchen while cooking. Yes, it’s a chore to cook the big meal but, in the end, it is also a joy. This is where children learn to cook and share; where family recipes are born and shared — even if the food didn’t come out exactly perfect.
There has always been a portion of the population who loves to cook and another that detests it. Used to be, the people who hated it still had to cook to eat. Now they don’t. But there is still an onus on family matriarchs/patriarchs to host holiday events. THAT part is fun. So for those who do not enjoy the cooking part, outsourcing is the obvious solution. But the choice used to be limited to “dine in and cook” or “the restaurant thing.” Going to a restaurant for the holiday meal strikes many as somewhat cold. But who cares where the turkey on Mom’s table came from?!? This trend is going nowhere but up!
OOH YES! I can see a vision of the future in the rising steam off the glistening roasted breast of the Butterball….
*A new advertising venue with coupons and flyers for after-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping inserted with meal deliveries.
*Instant-win Turkeys with game pieces hidden Cracker Jack-style in the stuffing.
*In-store catering of the Thanksgiving meal with big screen TVs so shoppers are pre-positioned to grab a cart right after the meal AND not miss the kick off of the bowl games….
All very true but oh, so very sad.
As I think about everything that is going on in the marketplace, I cannot help but wonder if the folks (both male and female) who are responsible for cooking at home have neither the time or nor the talents to pull off a multi-course or even a basic Thanksgiving dinner.
When I add in the large number of childless households, the divorce rate, and the growing number of affluent boomers I can easily see why more and more people now eat their Thanksgiving meal in a restaurant. Those who cannot afford a restaurant or prefer to eat in their homes can get a top quality “ready-to-go” Thanksgiving meal from the majority of their supermarkets.
It will be no surprise to me if this trend continues to grow in the years to come and that supermarket operators seize even larger percentages of the food away from home dollar.
Forget the old Saturday Post picture; there is no Norman Rockwell. Or maybe not. The old traditional Thanksgiving scene never focused on the shopping trips, the three days of food preparation (“The nice thing about that casserole is that you can make it the day before.”); the stress of way too many people running in and out of the kitchen; or the hour and a half of clean up and wondering how that scratch got on the good dining room table. It focused on the family seated, eating, laughing.
So exactly what are we missing about having ‘professionals’ prepare virtually the same food for us? The food arrives accurately prepared, aesthetically pleasing in its presentation, with creative entries we wouldn’t have tried ourselves; and probably for less money than we would have spent.
Maybe it’s just too perfect and effortless. Years from now no one in your family is going to say “Remember the time we got Thanksgiving dinner from Boston Market?”
What we do remember are the imperfections of our thanks giving. The time Mom forgot to turn on the oven and we ended up with KFC and have been talking about that ever since. How Aunt Elma always brought the same peas and pineapple dish that no one likes and haven’t liked for at least 12 years. And how it was always Fred’s job to bring dinner rolls but insisted that the day-old ones on sale were just fine.
That’s what memories are made of. Maybe if Boston Market and others would burn the pie crust once in a while or have to come back and put the turkey in for just a bit longer they could be part of our memories too.
Who wants to order out for Thanksgiving? Who doesn’t? Of course no one has time to cook. Last year we ordered a cooked meal from a specialty grocer. This year we will be eating out at a restaurant.
The number of single head of households eclipsed the number of the Norman Rockwell traditional married households this year. Those decreasing number of married households has an ever increasing percent of dual working income spouses and they are busy managing their 1 and 3/4 kids. The number of silvered-older-boomer-empty nesters is increasing and has already helped fuel the restaurant boom.
All of these consumers have less time and most are preparing and eating smaller meals. These trends are increasing trends. Having ready to eat meals available for pick up at the store or for delivery, will be a necessity for grocery and clubs to compete with the ongoing “let’s eat out” trend.
Look, the fastest growing household demographic is households with one person in them. We live in a country with serial marriage/divorce patterns. So, which set of grandparents are the kids going to spend Thanksgiving with? Mom’s? Dad’s? Mom’s second husband’s? Dad’s fourth wife’s? Times have changed. Not everyone is in a conventional family situation and, of those that are, not everyone can or wants to cook. Biggest problem with restaurant Thanksgiving? No leftovers.
Clearly, there are lots of people who no longer have the time to cook and holiday takeout, or takeout at any time of the year, has been a godsend.
However, this is also a case of people growing up without cooking skills and without the incentive to acquire them. We have an interesting dichotomy here. The number of celebrity chefs on television is at an all time high. Sales in housewares retailers (including gourmet stores) continues to rise, yet home cooking is stagnant. This is a great opportunity for retailers to not only sell products, but to teach people–particularly younger consumers–the skills they need to cook a meal.
Cooking Thanksgiving dinner together at home can be fun. It can also be stressful and unpleasant for some people, especially the time-challenged. If stress is reduced by having the preparation done by others, what’s wrong with that? The biggest riddle: how can the commercial producers (supermarkets, restaurants, etc.) keep the quality high when the demand is all for 1 single day? That’s the real recipe for stress.