Technomic Highlights Growth Opportunities for Canada's Cafe Segment

CHICAGO, June 5, 2013 /CNW/ - Technomic's latest look at Canada's cafe segment—encompassing fast-casual bakery cafes and quick-service coffee cafes—tells a mixed story of patronage and opportunity. Bakery cafes are experiencing relatively low overall traffic: 29 percent of consumers say they never visit them. Coffee cafes, on the other hand, boast remarkably high patronage: 62 percent of all consumers visit at least weekly.

"Coffee cafes have carved out a dominant niche in the industry," says Darren Tristano, Executive Vice President of Technomic. "However, the fast-casual bakery-cafe category has yet to fully evolve as a restaurant segment. Addressing consumer preferences for convenience, menu variety, healthy offerings and top-quality food ingredients are all central to driving traffic at this type of cafe concept."

[View related INFOGRAPHIC: Spotlight on Canadian Bakery & Coffee Cafes]

To help foodservice executives understand the latest behaviours, preferences and attitudes of cafe consumers, Technomic has developed its Canadian Bakery & Coffee Cafe Consumer Trend Report. Key findings include:

• Among the 29 percent of consumers who never visit bakery cafes, most report that there are no convenient locations near them, and open-ended data indicates that some consumers are simply not familiar with bakery cafes.
• A third of consumers (34 percent) have been visiting coffee cafes more often over the past year and cite convenience and speed of service as key factors in encouraging their increased patronage of these concepts.
• Breakfast sandwiches are a top menu trend in the cafe segment: they've increased by 44 percent on Canadian coffee cafe menus over the past year. Half of consumers surveyed would occasionally order these sandwiches for breakfast at bakery (48 percent) and coffee (51 percent) cafes, if offered.

Technomic's Canadian Bakery & Coffee Cafe Foodservice Consumer Trend Report provides comprehensive research on the latest menu and consumer trends for these segments, organized into four major sections:

Menu Insights—features Technomic's exclusive MenuMonitor data on leading breakfast, lunch, dinner and beverage categories on cafe menus in Canada's Top 250 restaurant segment.

Consumer Insights—examines preferences, attitudes and purchasing decisions, based on survey responses from a nationally representative base of 1,000 Canadian consumers.

Competitive Insights—explores consumer patronage and attitudes about quality, variety, health and overall value regarding more than 25 leading bakery-cafe and coffee-cafe chains.

Outlook: Trends to Watch—identifies several emerging menu, concept and consumer trends that are poised to further impact the bakery cafe and coffee cafe segments.

Technomic publishes a complete library of consumer trend reports. To learn more, please visit Technomic.com or contact one of the individuals listed below. For Technomic updates, please follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or our blog.

Contacts:

Press Inquiries: Darren Tristano, 312-506-3850, or [email protected]

Purchasing Details: Patrick Noone, 312-506-3852, or [email protected]

Report Details: Kelly Weikel, 312-506-3830, or [email protected]

About Technomic

Technomic provides clients with the facts, insights and consulting support they need to enhance their business strategies, decisions and results. Its services include numerous publications and digital products, as well as proprietary studies and ongoing research on all aspects of the food industry.

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SOURCE: Technomic

http://www.technomic.com

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