healthier options and place a premium

on convenience,” says Darren Tristano

executive vice president at food industry

research and consulting firm, Technomic.

“Our busy lives and weekly routines drive

the need for fast, convenient options in

the morning. When consumers don’t have

convenient options, they’re increasingly

bringing breakfast from home to eat

elsewhere.”

The foodservice industry therefore needs

to cater for people’s changing lifestyles and

increasing need for convenience – adapting

food solutions accordingly. “This is also

where supermarkets are going. Retailers

must be seeing the benefits of lunch and

dinner – it’s exploded in the supermarket

space with a broader home meal

replacement (HMR) offering in-store,”

says Bartlett.

There is definitely a crossover between

quick service restaurants (QSR) like KFC

and supermarkets because, essentially,

“we’re both competing for the

consumer,” she comments.

“In other words, food needs to fit

people’s lifestyles – not the other way

around.”

Many restaurants and coffee shops,

such as Woolworths’s in-store cafes

(W Café) serve an all-day breakfast to

cater for its customers’ lifestyles. Skhue

Kubeka, assistant manager at the W

Café on Grant Avenue, Norwood says

that many of their customers choose a

breakfast meal (like scrambled eggs on

toast) for lunch because it is the first

break they’ve taken in the day. With a

host of offices and beauty salons around

the store, Kubeka says that the owners

will often order coffee for their clients

with morning appointments. Freshly

made muffins also do very well.

Competing for consumers“There is a big breakfast war, which is

great for the consumer!” comments

Sam Redman, marketing director of

innovation at KFC South Africa. But it’s

not just about slapping some bacon

and egg on a plate anymore – it’s

about offering a well-priced and freshly

prepared meal that caters to a wide

customer base.

See the out-of-home opportunity in your storeBy Laura Durham

There is currently a battle going on in the foodservice industry with quick service restaurants (QSR) taking a chomp out of the traditional sit-down breakfast restaurant market share. Convenience, value-for-money and a unique offering with some added health seem to be key – ingredients that supermarkets should focus on if they are also

going to become more of a contender in this space, bridging the gap between take-out and

sit-down.

Unstructured eatingAlthough the formal sit-down-around-

the-table-as-a-family breakfast does

still exist in families with young children

(and in all sitcoms, of course), generally,

breakfast is now being eaten on-the-go

or away from home at the office. “Meals

are no longer structured in the traditional

format of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Instead, in our fast-paced society, con-

sumers just eat when they can – often

on-the-go. This is a massive trend over-

seas and locally,” says Lizanne Bartlett,

marketing director at KFC South Africa

(part of Yum! Restaurants International).

“Breakfast is a very dynamic segment

in which consumers are looking for

11SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, MARCH 2012

B R E A K F A S T F E A T U R E

▲

For many of your customers, busy schedules mean breakfast is eaten out-of-home and on-the-go – make sure you cater for this need.

Beat the champions at breakfast

bread and milk. They can even pick up basic

toiletries before heading into the change

rooms.

Says Zyda Rylands, Woolworths MD

of food: “We believe there’s a good fit

between Woolworths and Virgin Active.

Both brands focus on helping South

Africans to live a healthier lifestyle.

The offering at Virgin Active supports

Woolworths Good Food Journey, which is

all about food that is not only delicious, but

better for you.”

Health in the dry grocery aislesHealth is a trend across most, if not all,

food categories and cereals have also seen

their fair share of new health offerings.

‘Multigrain’ has been the catchphrase of a

BREAKFAST FEATUREQSR restaurants have become very good

at lunch and dinner offers but breakfast

has been – up until recently – a largely

untapped market.

Cater for different customersJust as KFC realised they have to cater

for shift workers looking for a filling

meal (see case study on page 15), so too

must retailers realise they have a diverse

customer base – and cater accordingly. For

example, a takeaway coffee counter would

do well in a supermarket in an area with

lots of offices as office workers might stop

off to pick up something for breakfast or

lunch, as well as a steaming cup of coffee

to take into work. Also, morning meetings

are never the same without muffins,

doughnuts or some kind of pastry so your

bakery department needs to be in fifth gear

from the word go to offer up a fresh plate

of meeting munchies.

Breakfast at the gymFor stores with a gym or sports club nearby,

offering freshly squeezed fruit juices,

smoothies and fruit salads, yoghurt and

muesli will be just the healthy break fast

gym goers are looking for after their work-

out. You might even be able to hand out

leaflets promoting your healthy break-

fast offering in the gym itself.

Virgin South Africa launched the first

Woolworths W Cafe, in partnership

with Woolworths, in the newly refur-

bished Constantia club in Cape Town.

According to Chantel Rall, PR and

sponsorship manager at Virgin

Active South Africa, the response

has been extremely positive. “We are

extremely happy with the partnership and

the offering to our members. Our members

love the fact that they are now able to

even get their bread and milk from their

club, saving them valuable time!”

She explains that many healthy meal

options are part of the menu and they have

found that members are coming in just

to have lunch or a morning cappuccino.

It has also provided a place for moms

to relax and unwind while their children

are having swimming lessons in the club.

Sports fixtures are also screened in the

café. In addition to the sit-down offering,

customers can order takeaways (smoothies,

coffees and even dinner freshly prepared),

as well as top up on essential groceries like

number of new cereals in the market with

many brands promoting the ‘healthy but

delicious and fun for kids’ aspect.

“South Africans are much more health

conscious these days, particularly as

lifestyle diseases and allergies have become

so prevalent in our society,” comments

Shaun Harris, MD at Future Life. Making

the right choice at breakfast is therefore

an important start to achieving that

goal. “Consumer research we have done

indicates that consumers are well aware

that many products are actually not as

healthy as they are marketed to be,” he

adds.

Many brands have history on their side.

“South African consumers tend to stick

with what they know, particularly in

12SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, MARCH 2012

▲

▲

Virgin South Africa launched the first Woolworths W Café, in partnership with Woolworths, in the newly refurbished Constantia Club in Cape Town in December.

In addition to the sit-down offering at the W Café in Virgin Active’s Constantia club, customers can order takeaway drinks and meals, as well as top up on essential groceries.

information easily. Says Linda Drummond, nutrition manager at Kellogg Company of South Africa: “We have always provided our consumers with nutrition information on our packaging in order to help them make informed choices. To make this easier, we have taken key nutrients and the amounts that they contribute to one’s daily requirements (Guideline Daily Amounts) and placed them on the front of our packaging.”

Merchandising rightConsumers often get overwhelmed by the cereal aisle as there are so many flavour and size variants. Ronald Ramolobeng, who leads a team of four merchandisers for Pioneer Foods at Pick n Pay Hyper in Woodmead, says they pack product

BREAKFAST FEATUREtougher economic times and we saw a shift

back to more traditional, tried and trusted

family products, over the past two years

across all LSMs,” comments Kara Timperley,

marketing category manager, media and

marketing operations at Kellogg Company

of South Africa.

This makes the cereal aisle a

battleground, especially for new players.

Although Harris says where a brand is

well differentiated, it can do very well as

evidenced by the fact that Future Life is

growing by 194% year-on-year.

With today’s emphasis on health and

the new labelling regulations in place as of

1 March, suppliers have to make sure that

consumers can gather correct nutritional

according to either rate-of-sale or store

planogram. Looking at Bokomo Nature’s

Source (packed according to rate-of-

sale), the Ideal Mix range, aimed at value

conscious families, was packed at eye level

and the premium ranges were packed

higher. This is standard practice, of course,

but it was interesting to see how shoppers

only ever looked at the value range and

their eyes were never pulled upwards to the

Premium or Functional range – cereal that

they might perhaps have considered, had

they been made aware of it. An incremental

purchase waiting to happen perhaps?

Value-for-money innovationsTimperley, says that South African

consumers continue to look for value-

14SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, MARCH 2012

▲

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h 40

62/1

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Roosterkoek Made EasyINGREDIENTS WEIGHT White Flour 5.000gS6002 0.250gNCP Yeast Wet 0.100gWater 2.900L

TOPPINGWhite Flour 0.375g

TOTAL WEGHT 8.625g

CUT 0.110g

YIELD 78

METHOD1. Place all ingredients into mixing bowl.2. Mix for 2 minutes on slow speed and 7 minutes on fast speed. Dough temperature ± 24˚C.3. Scale heads of dough at 2kg, mould round and rest for 10 minutes before working off.4. Roll out dough ± 2cm thick. Cut dough with the Chipkins Roosterkoek cutter ± 110g each.5. Prove for ± 30 minutes outside proover. Dust with flour.6. Steam well and bake at 230˚C for ± 20 minutes. Open damper after 5 minutes.

PROVIDING SOLUTIONS

Ask us... Your leading supplier of all baking essentials

Shelf talkers, big bright displays and taste testers are some of the marketing methods used to convert shoppers from traditional cereal brands to something new and different.

Many suppliers have launched into the snack market to meet the on-the-go demand with a range of breakfast, protein and snack bars.

for-money, especially when shopping the

Ready to Eat Cereal category. “Value for

money is not only the price point but

the balance between what the consumer

perceives to be a fair price for the quality

and unique benefit of the product,” says

Timperley.

This makes innovation a double-edged

sword – consumers are demanding

products that are different and offer more,

but at the same time are not willing to

pay too much because it’s ‘just’ breakfast.

Launching new pack sizes is a ‘safe’ way to

innovate as consumers already trust your

brand.

In terms of innovation, Kellogg has

launched a new brand aimed at teen

boys – Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain – which fills a

need that the company feels has not been

addressed in the South African breakfast

category. “It provides nutrients such as

iron, zinc and B vitamins for growth, is low

GI for slower energy release and is high in

fibre, helping give teen boys fuel they need

to ‘do more and go further’,” comments

Drummond.

Quick and convenient One of the interesting findings from the

Technomic Breakfast Consumer Trend

Report is that convenience is the winning

factor when it comes to choice of breakfast

spot. “Consumers generally place greater

importance on convenience and speed of

service than price for breakfast occasions,

indicating that consumers are willing to

pay more for a morning meal that saves

time and fits their daily routine.”

Many suppliers have also launched into

the snack market to meet this on-the-go

demand with a range of breakfast, protein

and snack bars. We all lead such busy

active lives and as a society, we’re very lazy

so convenience is absolutely key. A ready-

to-go snack like an energy bar is therefore

the perfect preventative to hitting that lull

in the day. Of course, many of these bars

are very high in sugar so the energy burst is

short lived.

Looking at the supermarket space in

terms of sit-down, KFC’s Lizanne Bartlett

says it would be interesting to see how

retailers would deliver on a breakfast

offering. There have already been increased

collaborations between supermarket

groups and forecourts, for example, which

have no doubt seen a rise in breakfast-

orientated sales. These include Woolworths

Foodstop at Engen, Fruit & Veg City’s

15SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, MARCH 2012

KFC does on-the-go breakfast

Breakfast. That important first meal of the day

is gaining traction in the local quick service

restaurant (QSR), with KFC being the latest to

roll out a breakfast offering.

“We’d traditionally focused on the ‘big eat’ and offered

complete meal options (chips and chicken), with typically

larger portions but a breakfast offer would need to be centred

around smaller meal portions for people on-the-go,” says

Sam Redman, marketing director of innovation at KFC South

Africa. Generally, consumers would be looking for something

to get them going for the day, rather than a complete meal

associated with lunch or dinner.

KFC did, however, notice a particular consumer segment that

was still looking for their favourite KFC meal: the shift worker.

Coming off night shift, these consumers were looking for a

meal solution that was filling, as it was essentially their dinner before

going home to sleep. “Shift workers highlighted the need to still offer

our Original Recipe chicken on the menu and we at KFC heeded that

call,” comments Redman.

“We therefore had to come up with a menu that offers both traditional

breakfast products and chicken on the bone in the form of a filling and

complete meal to cater for this range of breakfast consumers.” Besides

including a.m. Streetwise 2 and a.m. Deluxe Burger, the menu also

boasts a range of light eats for those wanting more of a ‘traditional’

breakfast. Consumers can choose from French toast, mini twisters,

oats and muesli cups too. The most popular of all the meals so far are

toasted sandwiches.

An important part of KFC’s marketing strategy has been to educate

consumers about the breadth of the menu. “It’s not just fried chicken,”

laughs Redman. Having a variety on the menu is therefore vital to

cater for a wide customer base.

▲

16SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, MARCH 2012

prepared to spend as much on breakfast

as the do on lunch and dinner,” comments

KFC’s Sam Redman. There is also a major

difference between QSR and sit-down

offerings as consumers have completely

different price expectations. “There is

even a difference between weekday and

weekend trade where weekday caters for

convenience and weekends need to capture

family meal occasions,” she says.

“It is important to be keenly priced, offer

consistently good quality, great service and

deliver on the brand promise,” says Bartlett.

BREAKFAST FEATURE

Freshstop at Caltex and Pick n Pay at some

Total sites.

“Of course, for supermarkets, the timing

of openings would have to support a

▲

The growing health trend has consumers demanding a fresh and healthy start to their day. Freshly made fruit salads meet this need exactly.

Innovation is key to setting your brand apart – offer a lunchbox snack to become a real meal solution.

Cereals are either packed according to rate-of-sale or store planogram, depending on brand, explains Ronald Ramolobeng, merchandiser at Woodmead Pick n Pay Hyper.

breakfast offering,“ notes Bartlett. But

judging from how well those stores that

stay open later for the after-work customer

are doing, opening earlier for the before-

work customer might also work very well.

For example, KFC staff must get to work at

5am to prepare the breakfast offering for

the first customer at 6am. Another factor

would be location as morning traffic past

the supermarket would be imperative.

Bartlett says that footfall and traffic in

general is a vital factor when KFC is looking

at potential sites. “If it’s not busy, you’re

just going to miss the volumes,” she says.

Freshly prepared and pricedPrice is another key aspect when it comes

to the breakfast offering. “People just aren’t