Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Are you ready for the rise of convenient chicken?
665 Plays10 days ago
Elizabeth Doughman, editor, WATT PoultryUSA and Poultry Future, and Lynn Dornblaser, principal consultant at Mintel. examine the growing consumer preference for convenience in chicken consumption, as well as explore the dichotomy between premium and value.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast Series
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to the Future of Poultry podcast series.
Guest Introduction: Lynn Dornblazer
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello, I'm Elizabeth Duffman, the editor of What Poultry USA at Poultry Future. In today's episode, my guest is Lynn Dornblazer, Principal Consultant at Mintel.
2025 Chicken Marketing Summit Details
00:00:23
Speaker
Lynn is one of our featured speakers at the 2025 Chicken Marketing Summit. scheduled through July twenty eight through 30th at the DeSoto Savannah in Savannah, Georgia. This one-of-a-kind event explores issues and trends in food marketing and consumer chicken consumption patterns and purchasing behavior.
00:00:41
Speaker
Registration is now open at chickenmarketingsummit.com, and I'd like to encourage everyone to attend. Thanks for joining us today,
Why is Chicken Popular?
00:00:49
Speaker
Lynn. Thanks. It's my pleasure to be here and talk about chicken.
00:00:52
Speaker
Why do you think chicken is such a popular choice in today's food landscape? Well, some of our data shows that 90% of consumers in the U.S. eat chicken.
00:01:04
Speaker
So everyone is eating chicken. But if you think about it, it happens to be a protein that, depending on exactly what kind of chicken, white meat, dark meat, whatever it happens to be, whatever you might be choosing is going to fit so many of today's trends because here it's a protein.
00:01:23
Speaker
lean choice with lots of protein, lots of additional nutrients, but then also it's very, very adaptable. It can be so many different things can be used in so many different dishes and goodness, I don't know what any family would do if they couldn't have chicken nuggets for their kids. Right?
00:01:44
Speaker
So it can be from something as simple as that to being used They're very gourmet, very complex missions. So it's got a really wide appeal across age groups, across types of families, across cooking ability, all of that.
Evolving Consumer Preferences
00:02:03
Speaker
How much consumer preferences around chicken and retail evolved in recent years? Well, one of the ways that things have changed, now again, taking like a color long view, looking back,
00:02:16
Speaker
20 years maybe, yeah we see a much stronger focus on health across the board. And that really does play out when it comes to all types of production sources. So chicken, like I said, being relatively lean protein,
00:02:31
Speaker
really has very resonance with a lot of consumers. It can be used in a lot of different formats. So if you think about the growth, for example, in ground culture and how that can be used, Arizona's substitute for red meat, for each example.
00:02:48
Speaker
or in dishes all by itself. And something else too that is especially important, that people is going to continue to be important, is even though to many consumers, poultry prices might seem a little high, there are several egg situations we won't talk about, but you know, although poultry prices may seem a little high for some consumers,
00:03:11
Speaker
Chicken is often more affordable than other protein sources, thinking very particularly about beef and to a lesser extent pork. And so it makes substituting or choosing chicken a little bit easier because it can be just a little bit easier on the pocketbook.
00:03:31
Speaker
One of the thing that occurs to me too about how things have changed over time, again, taking that longer view is There is so much more today when it comes to really convenient formats for chicken.
00:03:47
Speaker
So instead of it just being a whole or bone-in skin on parts, for example, you can get almost anything skinless and go boneless, thinking of breasts and thighs especially, and they come packaged in so many different ways.
00:04:04
Speaker
Very large packs, smaller packs, individually put frozen in the back so you can pull out exactly what we need, which really cuts down on grapes. So the convenience of it is much more elevated than it ever has been before. And that makes a big difference for consumers who don't have time to cook, don't want to take time to cook, and might not have the skills to cook as
Premium Chicken and Affordability
00:04:28
Speaker
well.
00:04:28
Speaker
What are the key factors driving the demand for premium chicken products? Conversely, what's fueling the product's popularity of more affordable options? Right. So one of the things that is driving tremulous is some of those more elevated claims, like being promote spring all natural or organic. Almost those. Because all of those types of charts really are indicative to consumers of elevated quality or something that is better in some way.
00:05:03
Speaker
But again, the flip side, and I should say when it comes to some of those premium indicators, so those claims and air statements that we see are in fact, we see plenty of products out there that do exactly that. So you've got a lot of options for those consumers who want to spend a little bit more money on poultry while still probably spending more less than they would if they were buying red meat.
00:05:30
Speaker
So they've got a lot of options when it comes to those consumers who want spend a little more money. But when it goes to the flip side of that, of affordability, I think one of the things that we see that really does provide that affordable option to consumers is retailers with their larger pack sizes.
00:05:48
Speaker
So the family pack that hands six chicken breasts or 10 thighs or a dozen wings or whatever it happens to be because consumers are getting better, I think, at knowing what to do with that, knowing that they can take that home and break that up into a few different sizes so that they could have a meal now and that they've got some additional in the freezer for later, for example.
00:06:11
Speaker
So I think that bringing down the cost per health by having a larger pack size is one of those really chia assortability solutions that companies are providing to consumers.
00:06:23
Speaker
Looking ahead, what do you think the future holds for the chicken category in terms of product development and consumer
Chicken's Future Opportunities
00:06:30
Speaker
preferences? And what should brands be focusing on to stay ahead of the curve? Well, there's plenty of competition, of course, when it comes to your protein sources, you'll stay more so than ever before, right? So, of course, all of the animal proteins, but the increased focus that we see with plant proteins,
00:06:48
Speaker
And then, of course, all of the animal protein alternatives. So those that might look like chicken and they, or they don't taste like chicken as well.
00:06:58
Speaker
It's a competitive marketplace. It feels to me like it's more competitive than ever before. But I think one of the things that's such good news for any company that offers products that are protein products, so in this case, very specifically chicken,
00:07:14
Speaker
I think what's very good news is how consumers are really focused today on eating protein. That's really important to to make sure that they're getting certain amounts of protein. And you keep reading consumers talking about, oh, I lost this much weight and to do that, I had X number of grams of protein a day, you know, that sort of So that's very good news, I think, for all protein pregnancies. But think with chipmine, because of, again, because of the lean nature, the relatively, relatively flavor that takes out so many different flavors, taking so many different things, that makes it very flexible and very adaptable, which I think works a lot for a lot of consumers.
00:08:01
Speaker
So that that's one big thing. ah But something else that I think... there's opportunity that has not been the adequate adequately investigated is how chicken might have a place, a bigger place, when it comes to snacking.
00:08:23
Speaker
We've seen such a blurring, and this is something that's really just been in the last five or 10 years, there's such a blurring between snacks and meals. I talk about how snacks aren't a, snacking isn't a category, it's an occasion.
00:08:38
Speaker
So truly anything can be a snack. And we see that when we ask consumers what they snack fruits and vegetables are number one. But if field thought was a consumer focus on protein, the continued blurring of meals and snacks, so it's a matter of occasion and size, I think.
00:08:58
Speaker
That provides a very good opportunity, I think, for chicken to investigate that blurriness, to investigate that area of products that are high protein, good solid nutrition, but are a smaller size and can be consumed as a snack.
00:09:16
Speaker
So I would say to look for more of those types of products in the future.
Favorite Chicken Meal Discussion
00:09:20
Speaker
Since we're looking ahead to the Chicken Marketing Summit, which is are all about chicken consumption, i have to ask, what's your favorite kind of chicken to eat?
00:09:28
Speaker
You know, it's so funny that you asked me that question because once upon a time, ah many years ago now, someone I know asked me a very strange question. She said, if you had to choose, what would be your very last meal?
00:09:43
Speaker
Thinking that I was going to be in prison facing a pirate squad or something, I don't know. But so it was, what would you choose as your very last meal? And what I told her and that still holds true today. And it would be a whole roasted chicken with potatoes roasted in the pan with the chicken and maybe a bit of a green vegetable on the side for garnish.
00:10:04
Speaker
But it is the combination of the roasted potatoes, soaking up all of those yummy chicken juices, the crispness of the skin.
00:10:14
Speaker
And i know for us in our household, whenever we happen to have a whole chicken, ah yo I always end up with the leg and some whitening. My husband has the thigh and some whitening.
00:10:25
Speaker
To my mind, there isn't anything better than it be all that's as simple as that. and have That meal is a classic for reason, I think. It just tastes so good. you know there's just the And it's partly reminiscing to the past and childhood, having that at home. But also, it's just so tasty and so simple but and works every single
Conclusion and Registration Reminder
00:10:47
Speaker
time.
00:10:47
Speaker
Thanks again, Lynn, and thanks to you for tuning in. To hear more of Lynn's insights and learn more about the consumer behavior and trends impacting today's chicken consumption, register to attend by visiting chickenmarketingsummit.com.
00:11:03
Speaker
For more episodes of the Future of Poultry podcast, please like and subscribe on wattpoultry.com or wherever you access podcasts.