2011 Summer Fancy Food Show - Oser Communications Group

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general NEWS www.gourmetnews.com SEPTEMBER 2011 GOURMET NEWS
The Big Cheese Says…
By Anthony Mongiello, The Big Cheese
Convenience is the
Driving Force
My father said that “Water seeks the path of
least resistance”—the easiest, most convenient
way to go in order to reach a goal. My
observation is that this is truer now
than ever, especially in supermarket
aisles and in the minds and
habits of consumers.
Walking the aisles regularly,
I’ve realized something
incredible: manufacturers
are more and more into
convenient line extensions.
They’re focusing more on how
they can improve products that
once required customers to struggle
through a lot of steps just to prepare them
for the dinner table. Manufacturers are now
developing their products from beginning to
end. For example, you have chicken companies
selling whole chickens raw and also
chicken cutlets that are already breaded and
cooked. How easy is that?!
This is what I see happening in virtually
every category. Just open a trade magazine,
and you see these line extensions, these
consumer-friendly items, products that
make consumers’ lives easier by cutting
out tedious steps and putting together harmonious
flavor profiles. Manufacturers are
following a trend today by creating products
that are as easy to prepare as going from the
package to the oven to the table—and we’re
having dinner!
If we want to keep
our categories alive
and thriving, fresh
and consumer friendly,
we need to be offering
convenience like
never before.
Many people I know lead very busy lives
and don’t have the time anymore like we
had in years and generations past to prepare
delicious nutritious meals for themselves
or their families. Back in the day, Joe Blow
had very little choice. He had to turn to “TV
dinners” in aluminum trays that would take
maybe 45 minutes to cook. Remember the
way those desserts tasted tainted by the foil?
Gross! Today’s consumers also don’t have
a wallet-full of cash for restaurants night
after night, either. At the same time they
are educated and active members of this
consumer culture who know just where to
turn. Just pull one of today’s gorgeous boxed
microwaveable trays out of the freezer, and
within minutes you’re eating al dente pasta
with Mediterranean spices, or wonderfully
seasoned grilled chicken with fresh delicious
vegetables in a savory chef-developed sauce.
It’s hard to argue with great taste that is so
convenient.
What could be more convenient than
bagged lettuce? It’s just lettuce, but cleaned
and chopped—and Americans are buying
it hand over fist. In fact I read recently that
bagged lettuce is the highest selling item in
the grocery store after milk. Now, milk has
been available since the first store in history,
but bagged lettuce is a much more
recent phenomenon. Second-bestselling
item in the store? Yes.
Why? Convenience. Whoever
would have thought that
people would buy more than
three million bags a day of
lettuce that was prepared
for them—and pay more for
it? Well, we do—because it’s
convenient not to wash and chop
ourselves.
You wanna talk about rice? I never knew
how to cook the stuff. Still can’t to this day,
even on my own cooking show, Kings in
the Kitchen. Nowadays, though, I can
make rice in my microwave in under two
minutes. And it comes out perfect every
time? Extraordinary! Not to mention how
many rice flavor profiles are available. Then
there are vegetables. You don’t even have to
open the bag to cook them! You’re kidding
me! And some of them have flavor packages
included. Convenience. There are a lot of
companies out there who need to pay attention
to what’s moving. And what’s moving
products? Convenience.
So in my opinion, if we want to keep
our categories alive and thriving, fresh and
consumer friendly, we need to be offering
convenience like never before. Line extensions,
products that make peoples’ lives
easier. These are the products that are popping
up new on the store shelves on a very
steady basis.
So what’s next? We’re going to push a
button, a screen will slide up and our food
will magically appear as per our wishes?
It sounds like something out of “Star Trek”
but it’s not far off. One thing is for sure: as
long as every mom, dad, man and woman
are busy trying to makes ends meet, they’ll
buy what saves them time and, in the long
run, money. They’re buying what’s most
convenient.
Let’s remember that in this day and age,
change is good—and one thing we can
change is the way we present our products
to the consumer. So next time we’re around
the R&D table thinking up new products,
let’s keep in mind that the more convenient
we can make it for the consumer, the more
apt they will be to pick it up.
From the Big Cheese to You, Mangia!
(Beam me up, Scotty!)
An award-winning cheesemaker, product creator
and innovator, Anthony Mongiello is the son and
grandson of inventors. His father held the patent
for the first mozzarella-making machine in the
U.S. At age 18, Anthony got his own first patent,
for a little thing called Stuffed Crust Pizza. His
ability to forecast and even help guide the movement
of products on store shelves is a testament to
his passion for giving consumers what they want:
fulfillment, quality and originality. gn