Improvements in taste driving more to order healthy food

Chicago / IL. (tni) Consumer perceptions of healthy foods and beverages continue to evolve. According to Technomic’s newly released «2016 Healthy Eating Consumer Trend Report» on technomic.com, consumers say that healthy options at restaurants taste better than they did two years ago. This is driving consumers to make healthier choices at foodservice, with a third saying that they’re ordering healthy items more frequently than in 2014.

«Consumer intentions to eat better is translating into healthier foodservice orders as the industry provides more options considered as healthy, yet also flavourful and filling», says Kelly Weikel, director of consumer insights at Technomic Inc. «Claims signalling natural and clean also drives orders as they convey health without detracting from taste perception». Key takeaways and opportunities from the report include:

• Half of consumers aged 18 to 34 (and 42 percent of the overall population) say that their definition of health has changed over the past two years
• Roughly a third of consumers (37 percent) are more likely to visit restaurants that offer healthy items, even if they don’t order a healthy choice
• Healthy fast-fine chains will face mounting competition as more leading, mainstream LSRs tout natural and clean dishes to drive traffic

Compiling findings from more than 1’500 consumers, as well as Technomic’s MenuMonitor and Digital Resource Library, the comprehensive «2016 Healthy Eating Consumer Trend Report» serves as a guide for foodservice operators and suppliers to understand consumer behaviour for beverages and to identify key areas of opportunity.