Frozen Ready Meals Market (2022-2029)

The growing preference for convenience foods, increasing working population, rising number of new product launches, and proliferation of hypermarkets & supermarkets in urban areas are the key factors driving the growth of the frozen ready meals market. Furthermore, the digitalization of the retail industry is expected to provide significant opportunities for the players operating in this market.

The COVID-19 outbreak caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus created a severe public health emergency globally, with its quick spread in more than 150 countries. Numerous countries worldwide declared emergencies and announced complete nationwide, statewide, or citywide lockdowns to combat & control the spread of this disease, halting all travel, transport, manufacturing, educational institutions, and non-essential trade, significantly impacting many industries globally.

Moreover, the pandemic positively impacted the frozen ready meals industry, owing to the people becoming more conscious and making healthy choices and buying more frozen ready meals due to its convenience factor. Due to increased penetration of home food, COVID-19 bought out the significance of frozen beef, including its longer shelf life and nutritional values, among consumers. Increased beef consumption during the COVID pandemic was another major factor behind the growing demand for frozen ready meals. The widespread awareness regarding protein rich diet and chicken as a source of protein has majorly influenced consumers across age groups. As a result, there was an upsurge in chicken-based ready meals intake among non-vegetarians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further, the frozen ready meals supply chain has been mostly shifted from food service to retail as the demand for frozen ready meals, such as frozen beef and other products, has shifted from food service to household consumption. The biggest misconception about COVID-19 was that empty grocery shelves indicated a shortage of food due to the recent runs on grocery stores; however, these created short-term disruptions as the supply chain worked to catch up and replenish. Sales of frozen foods, especially frozen ready meals, increased as consumers stockpiled food products. Thus, the sales of frozen ready meals witnessed a surge in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, in 2021, the initiation of mass COVID-19 vaccination drives and a slow revival in economic growth were expected to improve the demand for frozen ready meals from end-users, which, in turn, positively impacted the growth of the frozen ready meals market.

Consumer demand for convenience food has grown substantially over the past decades. The growing consumer preference for convenience food indirectly benefits the rising demand for frozen ready meals because they take less time and effort to prepare than cooking from scratch. Due to the consumer's hectic lifestyles, the processed food market is driven by a greater need for convenience. According to Eating Better’s Ready Meals Survey, in 2020, 88% of adults in the U.K. consumed ready breakfasts and dinners or ready-to-cook food, and two in five people ate packaged meals weekly. Additionally, the increasing urbanization is likely to boost the growth of this trend.

More than half of the world's population lives in urban areas, and virtually all the countries worldwide are becoming increasingly urbanized. According to the United Nations World Urbanization Report, the urban population of the world has grown rapidly from 439,498,772 in 2015 to 471,031,528 in 2019, which indicates that almost 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. As a result, urban consumers are gaining exposure to a much wider choice and better food availability than those living in rural areas. Also, this urbanization trend contributes significantly toward improved living standards and rising incomes, which influences the affordability of frozen ready meals to a greater extent.

Furthermore, with increasing urbanization, the demand for convenience food products is increasing rapidly due to the changing lifestyles, the rising number of nuclear families, and a significant increase in faced-paced work environments. These factors accelerate the growth of the frozen ready meals market.