Martin Shuker, KFC’s chief executive, says that the chain’s cheap prices are helping win custom. “We do offer good value, so you can buy a bargain bucket and feed a family of four for a tenner, [which is] definitely appealing in these difficult economic times,” he said. Does anybody else find this SCARY?
I seem to remember having myself predicted some sort of return to austerity, or more "traditional values" this year in response to economic decline and falling consumer confidence, it seems however, that in the UK for example while people are turning their backs on the fashionable restaurants, gourmet, ethical and health foods that boomed as incomes peaked, far from cooking up cheap healthy veg at home they are filling up on buckets of fried chicken, takeaway pizza, supermarket value brands and stuffing themselves with comfort foods as the recession deepens.
The high street landscape is already begging to change as the likes of Domino's, Subway, Aldi and Lidle implement expansion plans in response to the strong growth they are enjoying in the current climate. This is not the change we needed!
It strikes me that there are various fundamental issues/questions here, two major points for analysis and action standing out:
1. The premiumisation of "health" and "ethical" - the use of health and ethical categories to boost profits worked while incomes were rising but this is now unravelling in response to weakening consumer making the question of whether it is appropriate to be paying a premium on health more prescient than ever.
2. Poor consumer choices - why do consumers choose unhealthy foods over cheaper healthier ones? Why do consumers choose expensive health foods when they are buying more branding than health benefits.
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