Once a forbidden habit (think sneaking a cookie from the cookie jar when Mom’s not looking), snacking is now done at will in full view for the entire world to witness–and to share in as well. We no longer have to find some secluded spot, some dark corner, to wolf down a chip or two or three. Today, have a bag on your desk right there beside your computer or perhaps along for the ride in your car. Yes, America, we rejoice in snacking. After all, everyone’s doing it; it’s front page news (and in the spirit of full disclosure, you’ve read about it here before as well).

Snacking, however, is not the only eating habit with transformative powers. There are siblings: eating alone and convenience.

One of the most compelling findings drawn from our occasion work is just how our collective eating happens alone. Perceptive marketers will want to set aside traditional images of the family gathered around a table for a shared meal. Think about this little known gem we unearthed in mining our Hartman Eating Occasions Compass database: three out of every four times an adult eats in this country are outside the context of the family.

With such profound change now occurring, why is it the food industry has yet to fully grasp the implications of these big three eating occasions: snacking, eating alone, and convenience?

America’s eating habits are in flux, having profound impact on the marketplace:

• eating as a family has taken on new meaning (and a new set of dynamics). Seventy-eight percent of family eating occasions (these exclude “couples only” occasions) involve only adult family members (no kids under 18), up from 72 percent in 2010
• we are all eating alone at unprecedented levels
• role of Mom in shopping for occasions other than family is very different
• nearly two-thirds of convenience (occasion takes place within an hour of purchasing the food/beverage consumed) occasions are for snacks
• close to half (45 percent) of primary shoppers are now men

Understand Culture, Unlock the Secret of the Eating Occasion

While the ebb and flow in America’s eating habits is best understood at the level of occasions, what makes our study of eating occasions unique is that we ground it in the world of food culture (the context within with consumers make sense of all food matters).

We find that consumers orient themselves toward food based on the cultural nature of the occasion. More specifically, consumers often make stylized food-quality choices driven by food culture. This cultural layering is the distinct factor that allows The Hartman Group to provide much more granularity and understanding, as well as more robust insights, to eating occasions because it is lodged firmly in the arena of consumer culture and, more specifically, food and eating culture.

This occasion framework isn’t a collection of quantitative data broken down by day part. It is a comprehensive understanding of consumer eating behavior lodged in our collective culture–the most influential forces that shape consumer behavior.

The landscape of American eating occasions is very different than one might expect. Culture is changing how consumers shop for foods and beverages. The lines between channels (traditional food retailers, C-stores, and restaurants) are becoming quite muddled.

To help you unlock the secrets of snacking, eating alone, and convenience, check out our Modern Eating: Cultural Roots, Daily Behaviors report. This study will provide fresh data and insights to help you understand shifts in food culture, and it features our signature cultural layering and analysis.

Unique to Modern Eating: Cultural Roots, Daily Behaviors research is a three-pronged methodology integrating qualitative ethnography, quantitative online survey, and data mining the Hartman Eating Occasions Compass database.