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You are What You Eat: Trends in Consumer Efficiency Chelsea Crooks 20 “I feel badly about what I’ve done with young people. I was the happy face on something that was horrendous.” —Geoffrey Giuliano, former Ronald McDonald actor who later became a vegetarian Throughout history, consumers have looked for ways to make their lives easier and more efficient. Since every human being must consume food, it is only natural that this demand for efficiency has made an impact on the way we eat. This desire for efficiency has provoked an increase in the amount of food being consumed away from the home, including fast food and full service restaurants, and in the form of home meal replacements (HMRs) found at supermarkets. Unfortunately, meals that are not prepared at home are almost always found to be lower in nutritional content and quality than meals which are prepared at home. Even with our increased awareness of healthy eating, consumers continue to fall prey to the allure of the fast food industry. Regardless of the known health consequences and despite the fact that consumers are well aware of the benefits of eating healthy and leading healthier lifestyles, there will always be a simpler and faster alternative: fast food. The total expenditure on meals eaten away from home has nearly doubled in the last ten years. In 1992 the total away-from-home spending by North American consumers was $263 billion, while in 2002 the total amount was nearly $415 billion. 1 When viewing the percentage of the total food expenditure of the average North American household, we see that in 1970, 26% of the expenditure was spent on eating out, while in 1996 this number increased to 39%. 2 The United States alone spent nearly $500 billion on eating out in 2005, accounting for 48.5% of their total food expenditure. 3 Studies continuously show that consumers are spending less on ingredients to prepare meals and more on meals prepared outside of their home, in restaurants or supermarkets. But why such an increase in dining out? Possibly because of the infatuation with the “hectic lifestyle” of the modern consumer, timesaving products are becoming more and more in demand. In response to this demand, fast food services are not only increasing their overall presence in urban life by multiplying the number of vendors, but fast food corporations are locating their stores in places where people are already occupied by other activities, such as shopping or working. For McDonald’s restaurants this is a common occurrence: “McDonald’s wants to have a site wherever people live, work, shop, play, or gather”. 4 When looking at the figures, the results are startling; twenty years ago there were 9000 McDonald’s in 44 of the world’s countries - now, this number has jumped to over 31,000 McDonald’s worldwide, occupying 119 countries and spanning six continents. 5 These restaurants are not just limited to wealthy, industrialized countries; in fact, even though the number of McDonald’s restaurants in the United States is far larger than anywhere else in the world, the overall growth rate of the restaurant chain is much greater in developing nations. Currently, over 1600 restaurants grace the cities of Latin America – as opposed to the mere 100 McDonald’s that existed in Latin America in the early 1980s. 6 The growth of the chain can be attributed to today’s busy society, where people do not have the time to prepare meals, or in some cases, may not even know the simple steps involved in cooking one. Consumers want to be able to prepare a meal at home that doesn’t require a lot of ingredients or extra work, or they want food that can be picked up fast and brought home. 7 From this trend, a term has evolved to coincide with the progressive laziness of today’s society: McDonaldization. This concept refers to the “ways in which the principles of the fast-food restaurant operate in an increasingly wide array of social settings (such as the work place, higher education, and health care)”. 8 In this type of a society, jobs require little or no skill, and minimal think-
ing. The consumer has become a product of the fast food industry and the convenience that is associated with it. Supermarkets and convenience stores are now also selling products that are more efficient for the consumer. These goods come in the form of pre-cut and pre-washed fruits and vegetables, and pre-cooked, ready-to-eat foods, also known as HMRs. These meals resemble homecooked meals while remaining convenient and affordable, and are very similar to fast food. But grocery stores are not just changing their products, they are also changing the physical layout of their stores. Each department is laid out for easy access to a specific section (i.e. the meat or vegetable department) without having to walk through each of the other departments. 9 Much like the “one-stop shopping appeal” that superstores such as Walmart and Costco offer, supermarket consumers are able to shop for everything they need at one convenient location. Likewise, grocery stores are beginning to sell not only food products but also general merchandise, including household items and clothing. 10 Even more so, they are incorporating banks, florists, video rental, and pharmacies into their designs. 11 In the near future, there may no longer be a need to do one’s shopping at more than one location. As the well known phrase goes, “you are what you eat” – it is ultimately the consumer who decides what is and what isn’t important in their diets. Do they choose the more efficient path of fast food or the more nutritional path of preparing foods at home? Even with consumers’ increased awareness of healthy eating and the countless statistics showing the impacts of fast food on the environment and a person’s health, eating foods away from home is still a large part of the average consumer’s diet. If society played a larger role in promoting healthy eating, improved diets may actually save billions of dollars each year in health care costs, premature deaths and missed work. 12 Sadly, if the fast paced life of the 21st century consumer continues on its current path without the proper education, the trend of fast foods and prepared meals will inevitably continue. 1Stewart 1 2 Guthrie 1 3 USDA 4 Jekanowski, 11 5 McDonalds 6 Ghezán 400 7 Kinsey 1187 8 Zayani 628 9 Kinsey 1189 10 Clauson 13 11 Kinsey 1189 12 Guthrie 2 Works Cited Clauson, Annette, and Alden Manchester. “1994 spending for food away from home outpaces food at home.” Food Review. 18 (1995): 12-16. Ghezán, Graciela, et al. “Impact of Supermarkets and Fast-Food Chains on Horticulture Supply Chains in Argentina.” Development Policy Review. 20 (2002): 389-408. Guthrie, Joanne, et al. “Away-From-Home Foods Increasingly Important to Quality of American Diet.” Agriculture Information Bulletin. 749 (1999): 1-22. Jekanowski, Mark. “Causes and Consequences of Fast Food Sales Growth.” Food Review. (1999): 11-16. Kinsey, Jean, and Ben Senauer. “Consumer Trends and Changing Food Retailing Formats.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 78 (1996): 1187-1191. McDonald’s Website. 26 July 2006 . Stewart, Hayden., et al. “The Demand for Food Away from Home: Full-service or Fast Food?” Agricultural Economic Report. 829 (2004): 1-20. United States Department of Agriculture. “Food CPI, Prices and Expenditures: Food Away From Home as a Share of Food Expenditures.” Total Expenditures. United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. 9 June, 2006 Zayani, Mohamed. “The McDonaldization of Society: An Investigation into the Changing Character of Contemporary Social Life.” Criticism. (1997): 628-632. 21
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