Focus On Roast Dinners: 18th August

Focus on Roast Dinners by Henry Saker-Clark

Download the synopsis here

Publishing: 18 August

Submissions deadline: 31 July

Advertising deadline 6 August

The Story

Roast has a lost generation. The quick and easy midweek roast has tempted most demographics – from pre-family singles to empty nesters – to up their consumption. In fact, there were an extra 51.4m consumption occasions this year. Not bad for a meal that was recently branded old-fashioned and irrelevant. But families with young children – the core demographic – are turning their backs on the roast. So how can brands tempt them back? Can exotic takes on the roast and healthier options win over this lost generation?

Themes

Demographics: More Brits are eating roast dinner this year, with everyone from pre-family to empty nesters getting involved. But consumption is falling among busy, time-poor young families. So can the midweek roast dinner appeal to them?

Roasts heading overseas: As Brits become more enamoured with world flavours, is the traditional English roast about to get exotic? Could the next year see Italian, Mexican or Asian twists on roasts, and are any roast dinner products already tapping into this trend?

Health: Lean proteins are the sole beneficiaries of more roast occasions this year as health continues to drive purchase decisions. Roast servings chosen based on health are up 1.1% this year driven by more natural or less processed products and those lower in fat, sugar or salt. There are also plenty of brands looking to do veggie ‘healthy’ versions of roast potatoes etc. Outline the brands and products benefitting from rising consumer demand for healthier meats

Innovation: Key to this feature will be a discussion of the latest NPD from the category’s brands and own label players, large and small. The feature will explore the market trends that have inspired recent innovations and weigh up which new launches are most likely to encourage future growth in the market. We will profile 4 of these in separate innovations panel including RSP and an image.

Key questions the feature is likely to address:

 What consumer trends have impacted the category over the past year?

 How have promotional strategies (both in terms of price and marketing) evolved?

 How has merchandising changed in the market?