What's in a Serving?

CONSUMERS today are geared towards convenience, health and portion-controlled food and beverage products hence, single serve sizes are in demand as they not only offer convenience and affordability for many genres, they also help the consumer realise exactly how much they are consuming.

 So, which consumers head toward the single-serve aisle? "The single-serve segment is targeted at singletons and out-of-home consumption. Having said this, there are other factors as well that influence single serve consumption even amongst families. To mention a few, the single-serve drinks are quite common on the drive, at gymnasiums, during sporting events, or even during festive season such as Ramadan etc," said Gavin Rebello, assistant manager - MIS at beverage company Masafi.

Gavin Rebello, assistant manager – MIS, Masafi

In the single-serve segment, Masafi offers flavoured and non-flavoured mineral water in PET and juices in PET and cartons, including a recently launched 250ml Tetra Pak juice format.

"Going by the market demand for our products, it is natural mineral water which is high on consumption amongst our consumers. We have consistently dominated the market in this category for decades. This is followed by juice in PET bottles, and then the rest of the other single-serve products," added Mr Rebello.

Major decision-drivers

The need for convenience continues to grow every year. We all seem to get busier, life seems more occupied, and spending large amounts of cash on monthly domestic shopping isn't always possible. So it is just convenience that drives consumers to purchase single-serve formats, or other factors such as appropriate portions, health concerns (as obesity levels rise) or perhaps, the resolve to try new options?

"Convenience is perhaps one major factor. For school going kids, single-serve milk or juice packs, chips, biscuits or even cornflakes are very practical and useful. They are more handy, easy to manage and parents know the exact intake of each item," commented Ayesha, a mother of two school going children.

"It's easier to purchase and manage small, single-serve portions that we can consume in one sitting. Buying larger packs for small families or singletons not only acts heavy on the pocket, it often goes unutilised and with passing days, the quality and freshness isn't the same," said Qurat-ul-aien, business development manager at an IT consultancy firm. 

"Single servings are ‘need of the hour' - one can buy a pack of chips or a small bottle of juice on the go and consume it whilst you're at work. It also facilitates the concept of trying new flavours and products every single time," she also said.

Many manufacturers tend to agree and do factor in convenience and variety when offering single-serve formats, but preferences and priorities depend on the type of product.

Convenience trumps cost

When cost or price effectiveness figures into the equation, manufacturers offer economical, family packs.  More recently, however, large bags of single-serve formats are available predominanNike Womens Shoes