Simple Solutions to Help Families Eat Together
Sitting down for a family meal can be one of the best part of the day. However, making the time for family meals can be difficult for shoppers. The way families eat together and live together has changed over time, presenting new challenges to sitting at the table together. Read below for insights and solutions presented by the family meal experts at Campbell’s Test Kitchen and Campbell’s Global Nutrition teams to help your shoppers eat more meals at home.
Insight #1: Families Shop Differently Than Before
Families shop in a variety of places, multiple time per week, and often share the shopping responsibilities1. Make your store’s shopping experience as convenient as possible for your customers.
Shopper Strategies:
- Have shoppers keep meal plans and weekly recipes organized through your store’s recipe database.
- Promote your store’s app or other shopping tools to help them create lists and stay organized, no matter who is doing the shopping that week.
- Partner with your grocery delivery and shopping services to host an online shopping demo in store or via webinar. Teach your shoppers about the technology or services and provide time for them to ask questions.
Insight #2: Tight on Time
63% of Americans decide what to eat less than an hour before eating.2 According to Campbell’s internal experts, many families with kids spend less than 45 minutes preparing and eating their meals. Help customers save time and get to the table more often.
Shopper Strategies:
- Create displays in store that show customers how to keep their pantry, fridge, or freezer stocked with ingredients that can help them pull a meal together in a pinch.
- Teach your shoppers a few meal planning and prepping basics to help them stay organized and save time.
Insight #3: Addicted to Tech
Technology can be addicting and distracting. In a Food Marketing Institute survey, 21% of families with kids reported too many distractions as an obstacle to eating family dinners together.1 Help shoppers set boundaries around screen time during family meals.
Shopper Strategies:
- Suggest shoppers make family meals a technology free zone. Recommend that they silence all electronics and leave them in a hallway or basket by the front door before gathering at the table.
- Help them make conversation a priority. Provide conversation prompts on social media handles or host a kid’s activity where they make their own conversation cards for meal times.
Like anything else, have shoppers start small. Whether it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner, encourage them to eat one more family meal together each week. The meal may only be 15 minutes but the memories last forever.
- U.S. Grocery Shopper TRENDS 2017, Food Marketing Institute & Hartman Group, Accessed July 2017.
- Manufacturers Toolkit: Trends in Family Meals , Food Marketing Institute, Accessed July 2017.
