This article is part of our Breakfast Digital Feature.

Breakfast on the go is booming as the pace of life accelerates, according to exclusive research for The Grocer. Brits have carried breakfast out of the home and eaten it on the hoof on 205 million occasions in the past year, an increase of 13.2% [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 21 July 2015].

Convenience is of growing importance for Brits when deciding what to eat for breakfast. Being quick to prepare is ranked as the fourth-most popular reason for consumption (see below). Being able to eat on the go was a motivation for choice of breakfast on 284 million occasions, a 17.1% increase on the previous year.

“We expect to see further focus on food-to-go solutions such as cereal and porridge pots in order to take advantage of the trend of eating breakfast outside the home,” says Spar grocery trading manager Henry Goodchild.   

Breakfast drinks, biscuits and bircher muesli pots are also driving the boom in on-the-go breakfasts.

”The convenience sector started with out of home, people grabbing things from a café and then supermarkets, so the natural progression for convenience is to get it from inside the home either for people to take with them or to eat at home,” says Tom Mercer, founder of Moma Foods. “There is a big market for people stocking up their fridge and then taking the products with them.”

Coffee chain Costa has also expanded its range of on-the-go breakfast options while Starbucks teamed up with nutritional food brand Pod to launch a trial of its freshly made breakfast pots.

RankMotivation for breakfast choiceOccasions(m)y-o-y %
1 Enjoy the taste 22,294 2.8%
2 Filling 7,556 7.9%
3 Health benefits (fibre/vitamins) 6,862 5.7%
4 Quick to prepare 6,809 -0.4%
5 Complements rest of meal 5,682 4.2%
6 Easy to prepare or clear up 5,302 1.3%
7 More natural/less processed 3,221 5.2%
8 Fancied a change 2,998 -2.3%
9 Lower in fat/salt/sugar 2,932 -4.2%
10 To get portion of fruit or veg 2,420 11.8%
11 Makes the meal complete 1,787 3.3%
12 Adds extra flavour 1,637 13.5%
13 Asked for by partner/kids 1,055 5.1%
14 All that was available 828 -1.4%
15 A treat or reward 635 24.4%
16 Calorie or portion control 568 2.4%
17 Lighter/not filling 416 10.0%
18 Provide a varied diet 401 32.0%
19 Fancied something sweet/savoury 367 7.3%
20 Prepared on another day 295 5.6%
21 Can eat on the move 284 17.1%
22 Refreshing 260 30.2%
23 To tide me over until meal time 162 -2.8%
24 Right for the weather/time of year 139 39.2%
25 Less cooking 62 34.9%

Kantar Worldpanel: 52 w/e 21 June 2015

10 Things You Need To Know About… Breakfast