Packaged Facts: Gourmet Drives Major Growth

The usual news about the food industry in recent years has been that the outlook for growth is fairly bleak, but there are a couple of exceptions. In addition to the expected continued growth in the organic sector, another category is expected to see blockbuster growth in the next few years: gourmet foods.

Driven in part by the popularity of cooking shows and chefs as celebrities, gourmet cooking has seen a resurgence of popularity in recent years. According to market research group Packaged Facts, food connoisseurs (often known as "foodies") spent $59 Billion on gourmet foods in 2006, and are on track to rack up $96 Billion in annual sales by 2012.

Supermarkets can make a new niche for themselves by catering to this trend, since a majority of consumers are still turning to grocery stores for their gourmet needs. "Mainstream supermarkets and grocery stores lead the market for gourmet/specialty foods and beverages, accounting for 52 percent of the total retail dollar sales in 2007," said Tatjana Meerman, publisher of Packaged Facts. The Packaged Facts report, titled "Gourmet, Specialty and Premium Foods and Beverages in the U.S.," focuses on seven classifications: beverages, baked goods, pasta and grains, fresh foods, condiments and sauces, RTE meals, cheese and dairy products, and ice cream and frozen desserts. The study reports that the cheese and dairy categories will have the highest growth for 2007, with 13 percent.

By October of 2007, 15 percent of all new food and beverages introduced to the market fell into the gourmet category. "We anticipate this broadening of the gourmet/premium market well into the next decade, as growing numbers of marketers and retail channels offer an ever-increasing number of products to attract more customers," said Meerman.

The "fresh and easy" format stores, most notably as introduced in the past couple of months by UK-based Tesco, is a natural fit to meet these consumer needs. The desire for gourmet foods often overlaps with fresh, natural, organic and minimally processed ingredients.