Food industry should look at single servings

T he number of singles in Canada is growing rapidly, and the food industry is not doing enough to target this segment of the population.

In recent years, there has been a significant effort to capture the millennial market. Single-person households and millennial needs might overlap, but these markets require different approaches.

The single-serve demographic could become the remedy the food industry has been waiting for. However, despite compelling research in this area, it is difficult to find any evidence of an industry paying attention to what is happening to Canada’s demographics.

People living on their own make up more than 25 per cent of Canadian households, likely the highest level in our history. Many of us often eat alone, a trend expected to continue.

According to a recent survey, breakfast remains the loneliest foodrelated event of the day. More than 60 per cent of Canadians eat their cereal, toast or muffins alone. The majority of lunches are also eaten alone, while about 32 per cent of Canadians eat dinner alone.

From a social perspective, this might be a source of concern. People who eat alone tend to eat more, as well as less healthfully. But the number of solo eating and beverage occasions have wide-ranging implications for food and beverage industry pundits in terms of new products, packaging and positioning.

First, a single serving is easily adaptable to specific needs. Not all consumers are created equal. For example, males eat differently than their female counterparts. Males are known to eat less traditional meals and tend to be grazers. Females are usually more health- and weight-conscious and will opt for less calorific choices. The required fibre-protein mix also differs between genders.

The common denominator between genders is the quest for the appropriate portion size and nutritional content. The single-serve category can extend the capacity for any food retailer to super-customize anything. The convenience of single servings is also incredibly appealing for singles pressed for time.

The industry is nowhere near where it should be when it comes to portable single-serve food products. Many markets, such as Japan and Europe, are much further ahead than we are.

The added feature to this scenario is better waste management. Single servings are likely to produce fewer leftovers and thus less waste.

You could want what you want, anywhere. The single-serve concept can lead to the ultra-customizable food economy. The possibilities are endless. Pasta, bread, pies, cereals, salads, wines and dairy are many products that could be intentionally sold for the single demographic.

An aggressive position on single-servings could re-energize the weary centre of the grocery store. Stores would need to be reconfigured similar to the ready-to-eat section we now see in many stores.

While the sharing economy is all about the redistribution of our resources, the single-serve marketplace is the opposite. It allows our supply-driven food system to better synchronize itself with ever-changing demands. Single-serve could prevent excess and the industry would cash in on the added value. It’s the perfect weapon for growth.

The cold, hard truth of how lonely our society has become will eventually be reflected in how food is sold to us. Food is about culture, fun, joy and sharing. Yet for a growing number of Canadians, it is about solitude, and perhaps seclusion. Again, this is an opportunity for the food industry to see consumers as social beings, in many different ways.

If you remain skeptical, just look at what happened to coffee. The singleserve coffee, which didn’t exist a few years ago, now accounts for more than 35 per cent of the coffee sold in grocery stores across Canada.

The category needs to address the environmental challenges with better, compostable packaging, but its case for better convenience is undeniably strong.

At some point, the food industry will adjust and cater to this growing market segment and capitalize on what has been an underserved, lonesome consumer. This is not only good news for our food industry’s bottomline, but it might very well change how we consume food in the future. Sylvain Charlebois is dean of management and professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax.