Food Science

Food Service and Hospitality Strategic Marketing

Individual Assignment #3, Segmentation

This week’s readings present some very unique frameworks for segmenting your potential market. The articles for this week include traditional demographic categories and some psychographics that are typical of these categories as well as different methods of segmentation. Use these resources and additional research as you determine necessary to:

1. Fill your own demographic information into the categories listed in the “Demographics for Restaurants” article.

• Age (29)

• Income levels (40k)

• Education and job types (Associates degree, full time job for a copier company and waitress on the weekends)

• Marital status (divorced)

• Size of household (2)

• Housing and renting prices (rent $700)

2. Consider what you learned about psychographics in the course resources this week. Do the preferences associated with certain demographic groups match up with your preferences and your demographic groups?

3. Review the list of Eater Archetypes in the Technomic articles. Which one best describes you? Are the preferences associated with your Eater Archetype the same as your preferences?

4. What does the accuracy of these two frameworks say about the usefulness of this type of analysis? What does it say about the limitations? In your opinion, which is a more useful framework?

Consumer Brand Metrics Q3 2015

Eater Archetypes:
Brand usage and preferences by consumer segment

The restaurant industry has long relied on demographic factors to

identify and prioritize consumer groups. For example, many

brands currently obsess over attracting Millennials—some

without pausing to consider the variations among consumers

within this demographic cohort. In addition to life stages,

consumer attitudes about health, value, convenience and the

overall role of foodservice in their lives drive significant

differences in preferences and behavior.

With these distinctions in mind, we have updated the Consumer

Brand Metrics (CBM) survey with questions that allow us to

segment consumers into one of seven Eater Archetypes. Each

segment has a distinct psychographic profile, which is outlined in

our recent Consumer Foodservice Landscape. Accordingly, their

patronage of the segments and brands tracked in CBM varies.

This paper explores some differences we can discern after the

initial quarterly results, including the archetypes’ segment usage,

brand patronage and occasion dynamics. Examining CBM data by

Eater Archetype reveals nuances that complement a demographic

profile of a chain’s guests.

By Colleen Rothman, Manager, Consumer Insights

To learn more about the Consumer Brand Metrics program or to sign up for future
Spotlight by Consumer Brand Metrics white papers, please contact Bart Henyan,
Senior Marketing Manager, at bhenyan@technomic.com.

Consumer Brand Metrics Q3 2015

Segmenting consumers by psychographic factors, rather than

just demographic characteristics, can lead to a better

understanding of the consumers that matter to your brand and

how to appeal to them.

Key Takeaways

Busy Balancers and Functional Eaters drive usage across
restaurants and convenience stores. Full-service restaurant
(FSR) operators may also consider targeting Foodservice
Hobbyists and Affluent Socializers, as these archetypes
comprise more than a quarter of FSR patrons, on average.

How does foodser vice segment usage vary by archetype?

Driven by unique needs and motivations, Eater Archetypes
gravitate to a wide variety of brands. For example,
McDonald’s, Burger King and Whataburger each
disproportionately attract unique archetypes (Habitual
Matures, Bargain Hunters and Functional Eaters,
respectively).

Which chains do each archetype visit most frequently?

Archetypes that patronize the same restaurant may not use
the brand the same way. For example, usage varies by
daypart, with afternoon snacks skewing to Busy Balancers
and late-night meals driven by Functional Eaters. Archetypes
also diverge in their party composition, as visits with children
skew to Busy Balancers.

Which archetypes drive specific occasions?

Consumer Brand Metrics Q3 2015

Foodservice Patronage

Eater Archetype Distribution (once a month+ users)

Archetype LSR Avg. FSR Avg. C-Store Avg. RMS Avg.

Busy Balancers 27.3% 30.4% 26.6% 17.8%

Functional Eaters 23.0 21.7 23.8 22.1

Affluent Socializers 12.9 15.1 9.8 13.3

Foodservice Hobbyists 11.6 12.5 14.7 18.9

Health Enthusiasts 10.7 8.8 11.4 13.1

Bargain Hunters 9.5 8.0 8.8 8.6

Habitual Matures 5.0 3.6 4.8 6.2

Busy Balancers and Functional Eaters drive monthly usage of restaurants and
convenience stores. On average, roughly half of consumers who visit these locations
at least monthly are either Busy Balancers or Functional Eaters, reinforcing both
groups as key consumer segments for foodservice brands. These groups, the
heaviest users of foodservice overall, rely on a variety of restaurants and retailers to
fuel their busy, on-the-go lifestyles.

Affluent Socializers and Foodservice Hobbyists, who use foodservice slightly less
often, are also important cohorts to reach. They are especially critical for FSRs, as
they comprise more than a quarter of FSR patrons, on average. The

FSR

environment meets these consumers’ needs in different ways, allowing Affluent
Socializers to connect with others in an upscale environment and Foodservice
Hobbyists to cultivate unique experiences through dining out.

These segment averages not only identify the priority consumer

targets for a foodservice segment, but also provide valuable

benchmarking for the archetype distribution of specific chains.

Consumer Brand Metrics Q3 2015
Foodservice Patronage

LSR Chain Skews (% of chain’s once a month+ visitors,
indexed against LSR average)

Top LSR Index

Busy Balancers Pinkberry 154

Functional Eaters Whataburger 127

Affluent Socializers Panera Bread 133

Foodservice Hobbyists Panera Bread 143

Health Enthusiasts Subway 145

Bargain Hunters Burger King 143

Habitual Matures McDonald’s 196

Even within a single restaurant segment, patronage varies widely by Eater
Archetype. Some chains attract a disproportionate share of consumers from one
group, and the strongest LSR chain skews for each archetype are noted below. With
the exception of Panera Bread, whose monthly user base includes larger-than-
average proportions of Affluent Socializers and Foodservice Hobbyists, the chain
skews differ for each archetype. Functional Eaters, Bargain Hunters and Habitual
Matures gravitate to different burger chains, while Health Enthusiasts make up a
greater percentage of Subway’s monthly users than any other LSR.

Brand usage doesn’t just vary by demographics. Uncovering the

psychographic profile of your brand’s customers helps you to tap into

the unique needs, motivations and drivers for your brand.

Consumer Brand Metrics Q3 2015

Occasion Skews

When asking each archetype to describe their most recent visit to a restaurant chain,
the details of the occasion differ by group and across segments. Some dayparts, such
as afternoon and late-night snacks, skew to one group in particular. Additionally, while
Affluent Socializers and Foodservice Hobbyists skew to similar occasions, the traffic
patterns of Habitual Matures strongly diverge from both of these groups.

Daypart visited
Most recent occasion, indexed against segment average

Breakfast

LSR

Lunch

P.M.

Snack

Dinner

Dessert

Only

Late Night

no skews

Habitual Matures 131
Bargain Hunters 122
Health Enthusiasts 121

Affluent Socializers 108
Foodservice Hobbyists 106

Busy Balancers 119

Habitual Matures 115

Bargain Hunters 138
Affluent Socializers 115
Foodservice Hobbyists 115

Functional Eaters 117

Health Enthusiasts 112
Habitual Matures 106

Foodservice Hobbyists 105
Affluent Socializers 104

Functional Eaters 154

no skews
no skews
FSR

Even as a chain’s users generally skew to one or two specific

archetypes, the consumers it attracts throughout the day can vary.

Understanding which groups skew to each daypart can help

operators to optimize menu offerings and target promotions.

Consumer Brand Metrics Q3 2015

28% 28% 25%
20% 19% 19% 18% 16% 1

4%

21% 18% 16% 18%

18%

Functional
Eaters

Habitual
Matures

Busy
Balancers

Health
Enthusiasts

Affluent
Socializers

Bargain
Hunters

Foodservice
Hobbyists

Alone Kids < 18

57%

56%

54%

5

3%

5

2%

5

0%

49%

21%

26%

22%

27%

26%

24%

28%

19%

15%

20%

18%
19%

23%

23%
3%
3%
4%
2%
3%
3%
0%

Bargain Hunters

Habitual Matures

Health Enthusiasts

Functional Eaters

Affluent Socializers

Foodservice Hobbyists

Busy Balancers

Impulse Routine Special Other

Occasion Skews

In terms of party composition, Eater Archetypes most differ when examining two
types of occasions: solo visits and those with kids aged 17 and younger. While
Functional Eaters and Habitual Matures are most likely to have recently visited a
restaurant alone, Busy Balancers over-index on visits with children.

Party composition
Most recent occasion

Reasons for visiting
Most recent occasion

Filtering occasion data by Eater Archetype reveals the nuances in

their usage of your brand that will enhance your ability to cater to

their unique needs.

Each archetype’s reasons for
their most recent visit also
vary. Bargain Hunters and
Habitual Matures drive impulse
visits, while Busy Balancers and
Functional Eaters are most
likely to say they visited for a
routine occasion. Special
occasions skew to Foodservice
Hobbyists and Busy Balancers.