Food manufacturers target adolescents

Canadian market analysts NPD Group revealed this week that Canadians in the 13 to 24 age group are becoming increasingly important to members of the Food and Consumer Products Manufacturers of Canada.

Speaking at the 10th Annual Foodservice Interchange Conference held in Toronto, Canada, this week, the NPD Group revealed that the 13 to 24 age group has become increasingly important to sandwich and pizza operators during the past seven years.

This age group has grown up with the off-premise quick service restaurant habit, the group said, and is likly to keep the habit well into the future.

Sandwiches, chicken, and pizza are popular choices, with chicken gaining in popularity while pizza is declining.The top five food items for Canadian 13- to-24-year-olds in 2001included soft drinks, chips, burgers and chicken.

In his presentation based on NPD's 16th Annual Report on Eating Patterns in America Report, Harry Balzer said: "Both Canadians and US citizens make and eat most of their meals at home. But, more and more they prefer not to cook."​

The annual number of meals per Canadian household taken out from restaurants increased by 34 per cent between 1994 and 2001, while meals eaten in a restaurant went up only 2 per cent during the same period.

Meals eaten at home, but prepared in a restaurant, increased 15 per cent in US homes, while Americans ate only 3 per cent more meals out in 2001 than in 1994. The use of restaurants as a source of food to be consumed at home has been steadily increasing in both countries during this time period.

Dieting is another area of difference between Canada and the US. Sixty-three per cent of Americans claim that they would like to lose 20 pounds, while only 53 per cent of Canadians make the same claim. Twenty-five percent of US residents are on a diet today, although only 17 per cent of Canadians say they are currently dieting.