Life remained home-centric in late summer, with an estimated 78% of all meal occasions being prepared at home, according to the September IRI primary shopper survey. While this is down 10 points from the very start of the pandemic, the high inflationary levels are keeping the food dollar largely at retail. Consumers are still ordering restaurant meals, but not as often as before plus they are making changes to what they order with an eye on the check total.
Prolonged supply chain, labor, transportation, global market and weather challenges in combination with a sharpening consumer reactions to the high food inflation is resulting in an ever-changing nature of the marketplace, IRI, 210 Analytics and Marriner Marketing continue to team up to bring the latest trends and analysis relative to meat department sales, including fresh and processed items.