Circana Announces Top 50 U.S. Restaurants

Circana™, the leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior, today released its 2024 Definitive U.S. Restaurant Ranking Report, offering insights into evolving consumer habits, performance trends, and the top players in the industry.

While restaurant traffic saw a modest growth of 1% in 2023 compared to the previous year, a 5% increase in consumer spending was recorded, surpassing the 4% growth observed in 2022. Notably, the industry now stands as a half-a-trillion-dollar juggernaut, with dollars exceeding 2019 levels by 12%, despite traffic remaining 8% below prepandemic levels...

19th Annual Power of Meat Reports Strong Meat Consumption, Evolving Consumer Trends

The number of Americans who describe themselves as meat eaters (80%) and the number of households that purchase meat (98%) remain steady from 2023, while the number seeking to decrease meat consumption has fallen by 20% since 2020, according to the 19th annual Power of Meat report released today by the Meat Institute and FMI—The Food Industry Association.

According to data cited from Circana, overall household penetration averages above 97% for all incomes, ethnicities, household sizes and ages...

Circana Report Reveals Private Brands Surge Amidst Inflation 

Supporting shoppers by investing in innovation and promotions is key for retailers.

Circana™, the leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior, ​​today released a new report on the state of private brands (also referred to as store brands or private labels). Despite high inflation, private brands have experienced growth, surpassing $217 billion in sales in the United States market. The report, “CPG Private Brands Update,” provides an update on the store brand landscape, and identifies retailer opportunities to increase demand for their own brand and private brand...

New Research Identifies Opportunities for Aligning on Consumer Eating Occasions

Insights revealed today from FMI – The Food Industry Association, Oliver Wyman and Circana demonstrate new opportunities for food industry trading partners to cater to shoppers’ expanding definitions of value. The research, Finding Growth for Food & Beverage at Retail: Winning Eating Occasions throughout the Day, supports go-to-market strategies and ways in which grocers can attract more shopper relevance regarding needs, experiences, tastes, rewards, health – and especially convenience.

Mark Baum, senior vice president of industry relations and chief collaboration officer, FMI said, “The research showcases how food and...

Circana Announces Hannah Kim as Chief Legal Officer

Circana™, a world leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior, today announced that Hannah Kim has joined the company as chief legal officer. As a member of Circana’s executive leadership team, Kim will oversee the company’s global corporate legal, compliance, and privacy functions, in addition to serving as secretary to the Board of Directors. Kim succeeds Susan Bennett, who will be departing the company to spend more time with her family. Bennett will serve as an advisor over the coming weeks to support a smooth transition...

Heavy Restaurant Breakfast Buyers Drive Both Commercial Restaurant Visits and Retail Sales

Continuing its cross-channel analysis to gain the most robust Complete Consumer™ insights, Circana™, a leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior, today released new findings on morning tradeoffs happening across consumer packaged goods (CPG) and foodservice purchases. The latest insights highlight consistent growth in commercial restaurant visits for morning meals (+4% in the last 12 months), driven primarily by Tuesday to Thursday visits, when people are most likely to be commuting to the office.

The key driver of this restaurant growth, the heavy...

Plant-Based Meat Products Served Out-of-Home Grow by Almost 50% Across Europe’s ‘Big 5’ Countries

According to research from Circana, the leading advisor on consumer complexity that formerly traded as IRI and The NPD Group, the trend towards eating alternative plant-based meat protein products in out- of-home (OOH) eateries, such as quick-service restaurants (QSR), cafes, pubs and bars has increased by 48% in servings compared to 2019 across Europe’s ‘Big 5’ countries[i]. While in other food protein categories, the number of total product servings declined, including Beef (-5%), Pork (-16%), Chicken... 

Circana’s 2024 Food and Beverage Outlook Predicts Modest Volume Growth Following Three-Year Decline

Beverage and deli categories expected to outperform total food and beverage unit sales

Circana™, formerly IRI and The NPD Group, today released its 2024 food and beverage outlook, revealing that modest food and beverage volume growth is expected next year after three consecutive years of volume declines. The forward-looking outlook provides insight into the anticipated performance of the food and beverage industry throughout 2024, pointing to a more favorable landscape as several headwinds that weighed down 2023 are expected to recede...

Circana Research Reveals 79% of Americans Will Celebrate Thanksgiving with Their Usual Traditions

Circana™, the leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior, today released its first Thanksgiving Tracker, offering vital insights into anticipated consumer behavior and purchasing trends for 2023 and looking back at similar trends from 2022. This comprehensive analysis will enable manufacturers, retailers and media organizations to make more informed decisions about merchandising and promotions to drive growth and profitability during the Thanksgiving season.

The week prior to and the week of Thanksgiving are critical sales drivers, although consumers also shop early for spot deals...

August U.S. Retail Spending Results Reflect Easing Inflation 

Declining prices contribute to slowing growth in food and beverage spending, and back-to-school shopping remains tardy

In August 2023, U.S. retail sales revenue, including both discretionary general merchandise and consumer packaged goods (CPG), remained unchanged compared to the same month last year, and unit sales declined 2%. Discretionary general merchandise spending declines continued with a 5% decline in dollar sales and 7% drop in unit sales compared to last August. CPG spending gains slowed slightly from last month, with 3% growth in food and beverage, a 2% increase in...

After COVID-era SNAP Benefits Ended in March, Impacted Households Reduced Spending

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), historically known as food stamps, has undergone recent changes, including the end of COVID relief benefits across the U.S. in March. The final elimination of extra SNAP benefits nationwide in March reduced food and beverage aid by $23B annually. As a result, in the initial months after the benefit cutbacks, SNAP households reduced their monthly food and beverage spending, on average, by about 35% of cut benefits. For example, if SNAP benefits were cut by $200, the reduced food and...

Consumer Foodservice Spend Returns to Pre-COVID Levels Across Europe

Circana, the leading advisor on consumer complexity that formerly traded as IRI and The NPD Group, today launched its latest results from its CREST service analysis, revealing continued recovery for the European foodservice sector as consumers across five markets return to bars, restaurants and other foodservice establishments. Total spend for the sector is now back to pre-pandemic levels (€308 Bn in 12 months ending May 2023).

Spain is the first country to show spend growth to pre-pandemic...

Sustainability is Trending Upward and Delivering Growth Across Retail, Reports Circana

Spending on sustainability is trending upward across several areas of discretionary general merchandise and consumer packaged goods (CPG). As of September 2022, 40% of consumers reported that environmental issues impact their decision on whether or not to shop at a specific manufacturer or retailer, according to Circana, formerly IRI and The NPD Group, surpassing social issues for the first time.

“Products that impact our energy use, reduce waste, and use recycled materials or natural ingredients are all getting attention from consumers and presenting...

Consumers Turning to Foodservice, Restaurant Deals in Early 2023

Consumers eating away from home were eyeing the best deal during the first quarter of 2023, reported Circana, formerly IRI and The NPD Group.

Unsurprisingly, consumers are looking to save a few bucks when they can amid inflationary pressures and higher food prices. During the first quarter of the year, customer visits to restaurants and foodservice outlets that took advantage of a deal rose by 8%, Circana analysis found.

The increase in visits of consumers looking to save some cash helped total commercial foodservice visits rise by...

Restaurant Loyalty Program Points and Rewards Redemption Increased by 26% 

Lingering inflation and higher food prices in the first quarter of 2023 had many foodservice consumers looking for a deal. Customer visits to restaurants and retail foodservice outlets that took advantage of a deal rose by 8% in the quarter ending March compared to a year ago, reports Circana, formerly IRI and The NPD Group. The increase in deal visits helped to grow total commercial foodservice visits by 1% over a year ago, a traffic gain after four consecutive quarters of flat or declining growth.

Although 73% of all foodservice...

Circana: Consumers Keeping Close Eye on Food Spending, Opting for Lower Cost, Value

Consumer insights firm Circana reported that U.S. consumers are managing higher food costs by shopping at value retailers and capping their spending on non-food purchases, among other methods.

Circana’s findings follow the April Consumer Price Index (CPI), which saw inflation moderate overall, but food prices rise by 7.7% between April 2022 and April 2023. Circana noted that alongside the rise in food prices, consumers are faced with credit debt, depletion of savings built during the pandemic and cutbacks on credits and...

Amy Marentic Joins Circana as President, Global Solutions

Circana, the world’s leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior, today announced Amy Marentic has joined the company as president, Global Solutions. Marentic joins Circana from Google, where she was director of Global Client Agency Services. Marentic succeeds Nishat Mehta, who has decided to depart Circana following six transformational years leading and growing the company’s Media, Product, and Data Science teams.

“I am confident Amy is the ideal next leader for our Global Solutions business, with unique experience helping the world’s largest and most recognized advertisers grow their businesses through technology...

Circana: China’s Foodservice Industry Showing Signs of Recovery

China’s foodservice industry received a much-needed boost in the third quarter of 2022 as government-mandated COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. However, that boost was met with a Q4 decline. The start of 2023 has shown that the industry in China is back on track, according to the latest findings from Circana Market Intelligence, formerly IRI and The NPD Group.

Circana’s latest “China Foodservice Market Sentiment Snapshot” broke down how the impact of outbreaks and lockdowns set forth in 2022 had a massive impact across 22 cities tracked in China...