A willingness to discover unfamiliar and new experiences is usually a enjoyable and thrilling idea for a lot of. However Canada is probably much less adventurous than its neighbor to the south; Canadians are much less eager (client-only hyperlink) to strive new experiences than our American counterparts. Does this imply that Canadians are much less adventurous general? Not essentially. That mentioned, this does translate into one key distinction inside dwelling kitchens: Canadian dwelling cooks are much less probably than Individuals to be in search of new meals and flavors to strive. With Canadians being extra more likely to cook dinner at dwelling and make meals from scratch on a weekly foundation, speaking to Canadian dwelling cooks about recipes and elements that really feel acquainted and comfy will resonate a lot once they’re desirous about what to make for dinner/meals.
It’s a extensively identified reality that folks gravitate to comforting issues in unsure or annoying occasions. As customers navigate post-pandemic life amongst information of social and environmental occurrences, baseline stress ranges proceed to be elevated. Moreover, rising costs on the grocery retailer will settle down the will to experiment within the kitchen as customers are doing their finest to not waste meals or cash.
3 methods to lean into consolation
1. Improve the enjoyment of the expertise
Cooking is one thing that Canadians get pleasure from – 57% of Canadians say they like or love cooking, and an additional 30% say they don’t thoughts the duty. Partnerships between meals producers and ingredient corporations with digital leisure can be an efficient strategy to improve the expertise. For instance, Barilla’s partnership with Spotify resulted in a sequence of playlist timers designed to play for the precise period of time it takes a particular pasta form to cook dinner (e.g. the ten minutes it takes to cook dinner linguine). This initiative brings a enjoyable sensory expertise to an in any other case mundane activity. Extra lately, Spotify has introduced an identical audio expertise to the duty of laundry by the launch of its Spin Cycle playlist in partnership with the OUAI Melrose Place detergent and DedCool perfume firm.
Shoppers are tech-focused and sometimes have their gadgets close by. As such, combining dwelling duties with leisure is one thing that Canadians are already doing as practically 8 in 10 customers watch/hearken to content material whereas caring for duties. The Mintel Pattern Sense of the Intense notes that bodily and sensory experiences like this can assist create a extra grounded, conscious second, thereby giving manufacturers and merchandise deeper that means. Making the cooking expertise extra enjoyable will put customers in a extra constructive mindset within the kitchen. That positivity will be leveraged to make them extra curious and adventurous about new methods to make their meals – quite than robotically making ready the identical few recipes from week to week.
2. Play video games, win offers
It’s clear that Canadians are feeling the pinch of excessive meals inflation and discovering meals or ingredient offers is now a core issue with regards to dwelling cooking; 4 out of 5 dwelling cooks say that the rising price of elements impacts what meals they plan or cook dinner. On the identical time, Canadians are savvy savers and know find out how to discover a whole lot. The chance is to make these offers enjoyable to search out. Shoppers anticipate leisure time at dwelling to be stress-free and media is on the coronary heart of it. Integrating the hunt for offers with downtime at dwelling may very well be a great way for grocery retailers and meals/ingredient producers to deepen their affiliation of meals and cooking with consolation.
In Brazil, an awesome instance of blending client habits of multi-screening with gamifying reductions was seen in Might 2023 when Mercado Libre (an Argentine-based on-line market devoted to e-commerce and on-line auctions) collaborated with an area actuality present to supply particular reductions to its website Descontos Camuflados. To discover a low cost, customers wanted to entry the microsite and scan the TV or laptop display screen on which the truth present was being broadcast. As customers’ smartphone cameras learn contestants’ faces, discounted merchandise appeared on their screens. Every actuality present participant was related to a special discounted merchandise. From a client expertise, this hits all the fitting excessive notes – it’s enjoyable, it helps get monetary savings, and finally, it makes downtime productive.
3. Nourish and nudge by nostalgia
Food and drinks manufacturers are nicely positioned to place merchandise that convey pleasure as requirements in robust occasions, opening the door to increase on the notion of ‘consolation meals’ based on Mintel’s 2023 World Meals and Drink Pattern Unguilty Pleasures. Discovering consolation in childhood reminiscences is an idea that has all the time held true. In occasions of uncertainty, evoking joyful experiences of the previous counts much more. Nostalgia is a extra dynamic idea than ever earlier than within the present market. Reasonably than the romanticizing of childhood reminiscences from a long time in the past, it’s now an idea the place individuals assume fondly again to pre-pandemic occasions and even nearer to their current previous, based on Mintel Pattern Throwback. With nostalgia being extra of a mind-set than a static idea, legacy manufacturers and even smaller manufacturers that had a powerful presence throughout/previous to the pandemic maintain the benefit of evoking good reminiscences and extra importantly, the reassurance of belief and high quality. This belief in well-known manufacturers opens up the chance for manufacturers to increase into the unknown like line extensions that faucet into trending flavors or new codecs will enchantment to these in search of one thing barely new however not seeking to stray too removed from what they already know. This belief additionally opens up the chance for manufacturers to embrace variety of their line of merchandise. Because the inhabitants is turning into ever extra numerous, embracing meals of various cultures and ethnicities will even grow to be extra necessary.
What we expect
Serving to Canadians embrace a way of consolation within the kitchen doesn’t should imply choices strictly inside the kitchen. Associations with different areas that convey pleasure like listening to music or including a component of productiveness to at least one’s leisure time or embracing the evolving idea of nostalgia will all work to attraction and luxury Canadian dwelling cooks.
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