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Great Taste is Crucial in Driving Consumer Breakfast Decisions
In the past few years, breakfast has become a hotbed of activity for restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers striving to increase revenue and better establish themselves in the market. 
In today’s increasingly competitive foodservice environment, it is vital for operators to stay on top of drivers of change in the breakfast segment, in order to more effectively identify opportunities for growth in this important daypart.
To assist foodservice executives in better understanding consumer preferences and attitudes associated with the morning meal, Technomic, a foodservice industry consultant, commissioned an online survey of 1,500 consumers in September 2009 to gauge their breakfast preferences, attitudes, and purchasing behavior.
Fast Service and Family Matter Most for Breakfast Locations
Consumers indicate that during the week, they visit fast-food restaurants more for breakfast than they do any other type of restaurant. While a third of consumers (33 percent) patronize these locations for weekday breakfast, the fact that nearly as many consumers (29 percent) visit these locations on the weekend speaks to the importance consumers place on fast service and portability at breakfast, regardless of the week part.
On the weekend, consumers prefer family-style restaurants above all other types of concepts; 35 percent of consumers report that they purchase breakfast at these locations. Family-style restaurants are also fairly popular for breakfast during the week, with almost a fifth of consumers (17 percent) saying they patronize these locations at least occasionally.
Despite the wide range of breakfast options available at fast-casual restaurants, just 9 percent of consumers indicate they visit these locations on an occasional basis (weekday or weekend). This is probably related to the fact that fast-casual concepts do not offer as many locations or may not keep hours as early as other types of restaurants do. On the flip side, it suggests that the fast-casual sub-segment has ample room for growth in the breakfast daypart.
Breakfast Business Expected to Remain Steady
When asked about their away-from-home breakfast purchasing behavior in the coming year, the majority of consumers indicate they don’t expect too many changes. Overall, more than three of five consumers (63 percent) report that they expect to make the same amount of breakfast purchases from restaurants and other foodservice locations in the coming year, while 29 percent indicate that they will purchase breakfast away-from-home less often and 10 percent more often.
Although few consumers say they intend to purchase breakfast away from home more frequently in the coming year, such responses skew toward younger consumers. Fourteen percent of those aged 18–24 report that they will probably be sourcing breakfast from restaurants and other foodservice locations more often in the coming year, compared to just 4 percent of those over the age of 55. Consumers who indicate they will be purchasing breakfast away from home less often in the coming year are most plentiful in the 35-44 age range (31 percent) and least plentiful in the 25-35 age range (25 percent).
Good Taste is Paramount in Purchase Decisions
Regardless of the day of the week, consumers say that an appealing flavor is crucial to their decision of what to purchase for breakfast. An item’s taste was far and away the most important food attribute for consumers both during weekday (84 percent) and weekend (88 percent) occasions. That said, consumers seem to expect a lot more than just good taste when dining away from home for breakfast. More than three of five consumers indicate that it is important for breakfast items to be high in quality (64 percent weekday, 71 percent weekend) and filling (63 percent weekday, 69 percent weekend). Consumers also place a high importance on customization during weekday (54 percent) and weekend (57 percent) occasions.
It is interesting to note that, with one slight exception (the “item is healthy” attribute), consumers consider most food attributes at restaurants and other foodservice locations more important for weekend breakfast occasions than for those that take place during the week. These results suggest that on weekdays, consumers may be willing to give up some level of quality, freshness or customization as long as the item still tastes good. During the weekend, however, consumers may be willing to spend more money and therefore choose to visit full-service restaurants for higher-quality, made-to-order breakfast items.
Bottom Line
Much of the restaurant breakfast business hinges on small details, including when the purchase occasion occurs (weekday vs. weekend) and who is doing the purchasing (age group). The more that operators can understand about their customer base, the better they will be able to anticipate their needs and exceed their expectations.
Business-Building Implications:
- If you’re a full-service, family-style restaurant operator, consider building breakfast traffic during the week by taking cues from the quick-service segment: offer more options that are affordable, portable, and served up fast. IHOP is doing this with its prototype Café and Express units, which are more like Starbucks than traditional IHOPs. Don’t forget to leverage the full-service restaurant advantages of taste and quality, though, which should be consistent even with a speedier service model.
- Keep in mind that beyond maintaining your current customer base, you might also strategize about how to obtain new breakfast business from consumers who are cutting back at particular types of restaurants. For example, many of the consumers who say they will visit fast-casual or full-service concepts less often may be trading down to fast food or retail products. If your operation can provide a service or product to meet the needs of those who are trading down, such as premium coffee without a premium price, you might be able to pick up a new customer base.
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This information is provided by Technomic, considered an industry expert for over 40 years. Information can be segment-specific and it is important that operators understand the segment to which they belong in order to determine how this particular data may or may not impact their own operation.
Source: Technomic, American Express Market Brief, January 2010
