WINTER is coming, and not just in the fantasy TV series Game of Thrones.
The colder months are usually good ones for sales of classic breakfast foods. But what we don’t know yet is whether an economic winter is also at hand. Most economists continue to predict diminished growth and maybe even harder times ahead, as a result of Brexit-induced concerns. The Bank of England has already moved to try to head off a decline.
What has all of that to do with sales of porridge? Well stay-at-home breakfasts made a big comeback in the recession of 2008 and the uncertain times that followed. People, it seemed, wanted to fuel up for the day at relatively little cost.
However, as the recovery took place Britain saw significant numbers of jobs created. Many are being done by people with long commuting journeys, many by people – including Britons and workers from other countries – who are living in small accommodation where cooking can be difficult. And in more general terms folks are just busy, busy, busy.
What can we expect from breakfast goods sales? Well don’t be surprised if we get a bit of both worlds. Some people who can easily do so are likely to breakfast at home and others who might not be cash-rich but will be time-poor will be looking for quick, affordable eat-now breakfast foods that they can grab and go.
If anything the underlying trend is probably towards consumers eating breakfast on the run or at their desk a few times a week. So retailers should stay up to speed on all the products designed to meet that need.
But for the time being there’s likely also to be strong demand for family sized cereals and classic breakfast foods in convenience stores.
