Technomic Shines Light on Breakfast Opportunities

CHICAGO -- Although major foodservice brands, including both retailers and restaurants, have been developing ways to capitalize on the breakfast daypart and bring in more customers during the morning hours, this increased operator activity hasn't necessarily had the intended effect. Most consumers still source breakfast from home.

Just 20 percent of consumers report eating breakfast away from home more often than they did a year ago, according to the Breakfast Consumer Trend Report by Technomic Inc.

In order to grab more share of stomach with breakfast fare, operators must continue exploring new growth avenues.

"Opportunities to promote breakfast can extend far beyond conventional morning hours," said Technomic Executive Vice President Darren Tristano. "Operators looking to promote this daypart can leverage consumer interest in all-day or late-night breakfast programs. There's also room to expand brunch options, and even get creative by applying traditional breakfast flavors to non-breakfast foods."

Key findings of the report include:

• Limited-service breakfast customers consider value menus, breakfast sandwiches and portability to be highly important.
   
• Full-service breakfast customers value variety, all-day breakfast options and signature menu offerings the most.
   
• Coffee is a key part of breakfast. Sixty-four percent of consumers drink coffee at breakfast, and 54 percent of these customers prefer a restaurant that offers free coffee refills. Thirty percent agree that they are loyal to concepts that serve their preferred coffee brand.
   
• Consumers connect breakfast to health. Sixty-three percent believe it is unhealthy to skip breakfast, and open-ended data shows that many consumers want more healthful breakfast options.