Consistency is key with ready meals
As a nation of ready meal lovers, the UK is one of the most developed markets for these convenience products. But it seems the tide is turning. According to The Grocer, UK sales of chilled ready meals fell by £75m in 2020 as locked down consumers began cooking from scratch and visiting supermarkets less frequently. But is this trend here to stay or can manufacturers bring back shoppers?
Focus on quality
The 2020 drop in sales comes on the back of the £52.3m slump in the ready meal category in the previous year [Kantar 52 w/e 8 September 2019]. This was primarily caused by shoppers buying 7.9 million fewer kilos, as price-sensitive consumers shunned ready meals following a 14% reduction in promotions. While exacerbated by repeated lockdowns, it’s clear that the shift away from ready meals was already underway before 2020. Unfortunately it seems that consumers are concerned with the quality of the products they purchase, deeming ready meals ‘over-processed’ or inconsistent – something food manufacturers must work hard to overcome to restore the strong sales they’re used to.
In recent years we’ve seen a shift as consumers demand authenticity from their ready meals, as well as an overall trend towards premiumisation and ready meals that can rival a take-away or even a meal out - particularly important in a COVID-19 world. It falls to manufacturers to raise the bar to take advantage of this appetite in the market and offer the products that will appeal to shoppers. The Grocer’s Streetbees poll found that 67% of shoppers would spend more on higher quality ready meals, results that bear out with the growth of premium ready meals in 2020 even as the rest of the category declined. It’s key to get the right recipe, as well as the right process, to deliver great-tasting products consistently and win back consumers, boosting your bottom line in the process.
Consistency with Steam Infusion
The best-selling products achieve differentiation through raw materials, recipe and process. If you’ve got a great recipe and your raw materials are second to none, then it’s a question of putting the right process in place. Ready meals need repeatability but that can often be easier said than done with many traditional technologies, so you need to find a process that eliminates any inconsistency in your finished product to avoid customer complaints of wrong textures, off flavours or tasteless products.
That’s where Steam Infusion comes in. This innovative cooking process allows you to quickly create differentiated ready meal offerings that retailers and end consumers will love, as well as achieving greater consistency, ensuring that every pack looks and tastes the same every time.
“We know that repeatability can be difficult for food manufacturers to achieve and that’s where Steam Infusion can be a game-changer. By cooking your ingredients fast, you can avoid over-processing and burn-on and achieve consistency every time, transforming your operations. What’s more, Steam Infusion delivers brighter colours, fresher flavours and more integral particulates, delivering a more appealing product.”
The Vaction™ Pump can heat 500kg (1,100lb) to 90°C (194°F) in under 10 minutes – almost as fast as cooking on a hob, but with greater flexibility and quality when working on a larger scale. A fast, automated cooking cycle can produce identical batches with minimal degradation from a long holding time. This tends to be tricky in a traditional cooking vessel as operators have multiple batches to attend to and so variations can occur. What’s more with Steam Infusion, you can also create small batches at fast cycle times offering greater flexibility to meet changing consumer demand as and when you need.
Recipes created in the test kitchen are easier to scale up with Steam Infusion as the technology delivers a more home-style cook. This allows your Development Chefs to create the perfect product that taps into the key trends to appeal to consumers and then scale it up to deliver the same great tastes and textures to meet consumer expectations every time.