Like in Russia
There is no single methodology to analyze the ready meals market in Russia. According to experts, the growth in sales of ready meals in 2022 compared to 2021 amounted to 4.7%. In monetary terms, it is two trillion 282.9 billion rubles.
Ready meals were in demand in many regions of Russia: in the Jewish Autonomous Region, in the Tyumen, Kirov, Omsk regions, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the purchase of ready meals accounted for more than 10% structural cost. On average, a Russian spends about 7% on the purchase of ready meals. And this, by the way, except for visiting cafes and restaurants.
The ready-to-eat market also has growth potential. Thus, according to the Russian Agricultural Bank, the volume of this segment by 2025 could increase by 3.7 times compared to 2022 and reach 800,000 tons.
The convenience food market will only grow, Alexander Lebedev, academic supervisor of the Management in Retail educational program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics’ Higher School of Business, told SOYUZ.
“The second issue is the price. It consists of the ingredients, the complexity of the recipe and the cost of the packaging as well as the logistics. The ingredients in the price increase, therefore, the recipes will be simplified, the segment fast food will increase such as hamburgers and hot dogs Mashed potato with sausage or boiled rice with a cutlet “The number of these dishes will increase. The assortment will become simpler, but there will be more ready meals in the total volume, because no one has canceled the value of saving time, ”the expert believes.
Is it possible to have a standard set of dishes for three meals a day at home so that the finances do not sing romances and the quality is good? Can!
Today, almost everything is available to a buyer who does not like to stay in the kitchen: from haute cuisine to simple grocery sets. For example, a standard breakfast-lunch-dinner per person can cost 400-500 rubles per day. In addition, you will not get mash powder, but good, for example, chicken borscht for lunch, naval pasta for dinner and rice pudding porridge for breakfast.
Those who work in the office can only order breakfast or lunch, which significantly reduces costs.
According to expert estimates, the volume of the ready meals market in Russia by 2025 could increase by 3.7 times compared to 2022
There are more expensive options, here the main thing is not the volume of the dish, but its presentation and the exclusivity of the products or their emphasis on healthy eating. Deciding to spend about a thousand rubles a day on ready meals, you can get a well-balanced menu not only in terms of calories, but also depending on the days of the week. For example, on Monday you can have cottage cheese casserole with plums for breakfast, on Tuesday you can have green pea cream soup with chicken for lunch. And you’ll know exactly how many calories are in each serving.
Now let’s talk about the restaurant’s dishes. In this case, there are practically no limits to the imagination. But the prices for such dishes are also quite restaurant, moreover, you often have to pay for delivery. This will add a few hundred more to the order. Another nuance: when ordering dishes in the restaurant, the rule of the minimum order value usually applies, it ranges from 800 to 2000 rubles.
Like in Belarus
The vast majority of catering establishments in Minsk and major cities of Belarus are present on the Internet. And if not everyone has their own site, then information about the menu, interior and contacts of a particular cafe or restaurant can be easily found in the catalogs of specialized sites – relax.by, on the sites 360.by, chatoff.by, AllRest.by. With food consumption outside specialized establishments, the situation is much the same. Most of them are ready to offer dishes from the menu to take away or take away, but it is not a fact that the buyer will be satisfied with the result.
According to the chef of one of the capital’s restaurants, Sergei Kostyuk, in order for the consumer to like a dish ordered online, it takes no more than 20-30 minutes from the time of preparation to the time of delivery. Alas, not all establishments, even those in the network, are ready to guarantee this in conditions of dense city traffic or during the period of mass orders. By the way, Belarusian customers cannot be called too demanding. Many people are fine with waiting for food prepared within an hour, but 80-90 minutes is already too much. Unfortunately, in many popular establishments they are only willing to fulfill an order for two hours or more.
In such a situation, those who have their own delivery service and guarantee, for example, the delivery of pizza within half an hour, and in case of delay, a pleasant bonus to the consumer in the form of a promotional code for the next free order, are riding. Catering establishments that do not suffer from excessive greed, clearly imagine the real area of fast food delivery, command respect (unfortunately, not everyone manages to meet deadlines). Establishments with “folk” menus like pizza, sushi, kebabs are also in favor – dishes that are hard to spoil if you don’t have to wait too long for a courier.
Inexpensive meal delivery on a “first, second and salad” basis is a segment of the online service market that has yet to grow and grow. Cafes and restaurants offer full-fledged business lunches at the price of 25-30 Belarusian rubles per person (800-960 Russian rubles), while in cafes and inexpensive canteens a lunch of about the same calorie content costs at least twice as much. Most affordable establishments, apparently, don’t feel the need to arrange delivery yet. The fact is that in Belarus there are no such large chains of canteens as in Russia, hence the modest opportunities. As for evening orders for business, the average check is 40-70 Belarusian rubles per person (1280-2245 Russian). And these are already decent amounts, and you can do your best.
Additional payment for delivery is made in cases where intermediaries such as Delivio or Yandex.Eda delivery services take over. Do I have to overpay 6-15 Belarusian rubles (190-480 Russian) for waiting 40-60 minutes? Everyone decides for themselves, but if the place of dispatch of the food is ten kilometers from the place of consumption, will there be pleasure in enjoying this food?
According to Belarusian public catering professionals, it is possible to talk about the consistent quality of dishes delivered online only when the density of cafes and restaurants ready to provide this service will be much higher than today, and establishments themselves will either develop the delivery service or start cooperating with aggregators. Additionally, the profitability of the service could be higher if the state allows online commerce and delivery of alcoholic, low-alcohol, and beer beverages. But in Belarus they did not go there even during the period of the coronavirus, although the issue was discussed.
Until the point
Today, ready-made catering services exist in a variety of segments – for example, it is possible to order delivery to the train. More than 10,000 orders were placed by passengers on FPC’s long-distance trains under the on-train food delivery service in 2022, the company’s press office reports. The most popular dishes among passengers are dishes of national cuisines of the regions through which the train passes, as well as classic fast food – various burgers and pizzas.
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