Raise the Bar – And Sales – With Family Meals This September

It's National Family Meals Month this September! Every September, the Independent Grocers Alliance, FMI The Food Industry Association, and numerous grocery retailers highlight the importance of eating meals together as a family. Why? There are numerous benefits to family meals, according to research provided by FMI:

• Family meals fuel stronger families
  Family meals deepen and intensify family connections and make for healthier, more enduring families.
  
  
• Family meals promote healthy eating and healthy bodies
  Children and parents have better diets — increased fruit and vegetable consumption, better quality food — when enjoying meals together.
  
  
• Family meals fuel prosocial behaviors
  Eating together as a family is associated with lower levels of aggression, hostile behavior, and delinquency among adolescents. Those who frequently eat meals with their family are less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as smoking and drug use when compared to peers who never or rarely eat meals with their families.

The Sweepstakes

This year, IGA is hosting a Family Meals Made Easy sweepstakes to help our members promote the month-long initiative to shoppers.

"We believe that every family meal is a chance to create lasting memories, and during National Family Meals Month, we're here to help you savor just one more meal together each week — because the best moments are made around the table," IGA Associate Director of Marketing Megan Drazer said about the campaign.

Shoppers simply visit this website, fill out the entry form, and earn a chance to win $500!

IGA retailers can promote the campaign in email, on their website, and on social media by using these graphics.

An example of the graphics available for IGA retailers to promote the shopper sweepstakes.

What Shoppers Want

IGA CEO John Ross said IGA is in a better position than ever before to differentiate around shoppers’ evolving needs for fresh, healthy food to feed their families.

“When you used to ask shoppers what they wanted from their shopping experience, they would say they wanted faster checkout times, cleaner restrooms, and better prices,” Ross said. “All that’s still important, but now on top of that they want a partner who gives them guidance on healthier choices and who can tell them where their food is coming from, and they want help getting out of a recipe rut or solutions to put dinner on the table faster.”

IGA retailers can use the Family Meals page to inspire shoppers with new recipes that share cook time, number of ingredients, and even allow shoppers to shop the recipe ingredient list in one easy click.

Drazer recommends grocers take the recipes and build an endcap with the ingredients. IGA has adaptable Family Meals Made Easy! signage to draw attention to your display, and grocers can print out the recipes and place them at the endcap to give shoppers easy access and meal inspiration. 

This retailer created an endcap featuring ingredients from an iga.com recipe.

Highlight Meal Solutions

Doing your part to bring families back to the dinner table is great for the health and wellbeing of families, but it’s also just smart business — especially when you consider the benefit family meals can bring to your bottom line.

“Studies have shown that just one more family meal per week can have a huge impact on family dynamics, shopper budgets, and even the health of the family. When you add to that the difference that extra meal per family brings to a retailer's bottom line, it’s obvious that retailers need to be thinking about their offerings in terms of complete meal solutions,” Nielsen Fresh Associate Director Meagan Nelson said.

Meal kits have continued to be a hit with shoppers, with a 15.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) expected this year and 17.7% CAGR expected by 2028. 

Nelson said that IGA retailers’ independent flexibility puts them at an advantage over other retailers competing with meal kits.

“As independents, IGA retailers have a clear opportunity to test what types of meal solutions and promotions will really deliver results for their customers, whether you’re providing shoppers with prepared meal deals from deli offerings, or merchandising items together so shoppers can cook a full meal at home," she said.

So what’s the key to creating successful meal solutions? According to Nelson, it all comes down to finding the right balance among these key shopper needs.

1. Variety

Even the most dedicated home cooks can run out of creative ideas when cooking night after night. In fact, one of the things meal kit customers love most about the kits is that they shake them out of their dinnertime ruts. Three quarters of meal kit customers say the kits enable them to try new foods and recipes and 57% say they learn new cooking techniques with the kits.

Variety Quick Tip:

Make your store a destination for innovative meal solutions.

Offer a stir-fry recipe that can be customized multiple ways with Indian, Thai, Chinese, or Korean sauces; beef, tofu, or shrimp; rice or noodles; all with a pre-cut vegetable medley as the common element. Host in-person cooking demonstrations to help shoppers learn new techniques.

2. Value

Putting an affordable meal on the table is no easy task for many Americans, which is why so many people turn to inexpensive fast food for nightly dinners.

Value Quick Tip:

Highlight the value of your meal solutions. Include signage with your meal solutions display that shows the total price per meal and/or what a similar meal would cost in a restaurant, like that available through IGA's Quarterly Marketing Kit.

The above sign was featured in IGA's Quarterly Marketing Kit and provides a recipe for shoppers to save about $13 and 270 calories per serving.

3. Convenience

Did you know that time-saving is a primary reason people eat away from home? Same goes for meal kits. 80% say meal kits save time on meal planning, 78% on meal prep and cooking, and 70% on grocery shopping.

Convenience Quick Tip:

Make it fast and easy for your shoppers to get dinner on the table quickly.

Place daily “grab and go” specials from your deli at the front of the store for easy access, like IGA retailer Nakul Patel is doing with his small space meal solutions.