Ham and cheese sandwiches most popular back-to-school lunch box items

Children have tucked in to 316 million packed lunches in the past year, representing 19% of all children’s lunch occasions (Kantar Usage, 52 w/e 7 July 2024). Packed lunches offer families a practical way to control spend and can be a more affordable option than a school meal. Therefore, with the cost-of-living backdrop, we have seen the share of children’s lunch boxes in total children’s lunch occasions increase by 1 percentage point in the last school year.

According to Kantar, sandwiches are the most popular item in a children’s lunch box, being present in nearly two-thirds. And the good news for red meat and dairy is that they are the top two sandwich fillings, with cooked meat featuring in 57% of children's packed lunch sandwiches and cheese in 38%. Cooked meats have become more important for this occasion, and we see the potential impact of school term time on retail sales. In 2023, ham saw volume declines of -9.9% during the summer holidays (Kantar, 6 w/e 3 September versus 6 w/e 23 July) but an upturn of 5.1% once children returned to school (Kantar, 6 w/e 15 October).

While sandwiches remain the big winner, they featured in 20 million fewer children's lunch box occasions last year and we saw potentially less healthy components, such as crisps, savoury snacks, ambient cakes and pastries, chocolate and cereal/fruit bars, win share. This is likely driven by the decreased importance of health for children's lunch boxes during the cost-of-living crisis, negatively impacting the share of occasions for fruit and yogurt (Kantar Usage, 52 w/e 7 July 24).

Future considerations:

• As consumer confidence recovers, we need to ensure that packed lunches remain on the agenda. Inspire new and exciting red meat and dairy lunch box options that trump a school dinner
• Convenience is key for winning at children’s lunch boxes, but health will increase in importance as we come out of the cost-of-living crisis. Ensure communication of red meat and dairy’s part in a nutritionally balanced packed lunch
• Consumption of children’s lunchboxes peaks in the months of September, October and November. Prioritise support during this back-to-school period
• While we concentrate on children’s lunch boxes here, they only actually represent 20% of total lunch box occasions, highlighting the importance of adult packed lunches. A tailored marketing strategy will be needed here

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