Fuelling growth through food relationships

The way that we consume food and drink means that certain things tend to be paired or grouped together.  Sometimes there are traditional pairings such as burger and chips or cereal and milk, or sometimes they are more individual based on personal tastes.  However the selection is determined, it’s really only the less versatile options like ready-meals and pizzas that tend to be consumed alone.  It is worth considering some of the different roles that foods play and what this means for manufacturers and retailers.

Three key roles

For simplicity let’s think of three roles that meal components can play.

1. Centre stage, an example of this would be roast beef, this sort of food will dictate what other products could play a role in the meal.
2. Supporting role, an example might be horseradish, the relevance of this product is directly reliant on the choice of host.
3. Co-dependent, this is where different foods are combined to create a meal but there is no one part that is more important than the others, an example might be a fried breakfast where any combination of items could be used.

Which role a product plays has fundamental implications for marketing: positioning, price point, forecasting and innovation. Knowing where your product falls – or the proportion which falls where – is key to knowing where and how to grow.

If you would like to know more about this, please read my full blog post here.