How foodservice brands can drive breakfast traffic

Foodservice brands, from restaurants to retailers, are trying to get more people to eat breakfast away from home. They introduce new breakfast items and retool menus to attract customers. But according to a Technomic consumer report, it doesn’t drive as much traffic. Most people still have their breakfast at home, and only 20 per cent more eat breakfast out compared to a year ago. The research firm has its recommendations.

"Opportunities to promote breakfast can extend far beyond conventional morning hours," said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, Inc. "Operators looking to promote this daypart can leverage consumer interest in all-day or late-night breakfast programmes. There's also room to expand brunch options, and even get creative by applying traditional breakfast flavours to non-breakfast foods." 

To help foodservice executives understand the latest behaviours, preferences and attitudes of consumers regarding breakfast, Technomic has published its Breakfast Consumer Trend Report. Interesting findings include:

• Limited-service breakfast customers place high importance on value menus, breakfast sandwiches and portability;  full-service customers are most interested in variety, all-day breakfast options and signature menu offerings.
• Coffee is key: 64 per cent of consumers drink coffee at breakfast; 54 per cent of these consumers prefer a restaurant that offers free coffee refills, and 30 per cent agree that they are loyal to concepts that serve their preferred brand of java
• Consumers link breakfast with health: 63 per cent of consumers feel it is unhealthy to skip breakfast; open-ended data shows that many consumers want more healthful breakfast options.

Technomic's Breakfast Consumer Trend Report  provides comprehensive research on the latest menu and consumer trends for the breakfast daypart, organised into four major sections:

Menu Insights—uses Technomic's exclusive MenuMonitor data to track year-over-year development of breakfast offerings on the menu at Top 500 restaurant chains.

Consumer Insights—analyses consumer preferences and attitudes toward breakfast, based on year-over-year findings from a nationally representative survey of 1,500 U.S. consumers.

Outlook: Trends to Watch—explores emRacing Archives