Big food maker Unilever is rubbing its hands together with glee as the mini meals category gears up for a €17bn surge over the next three years.
The business’s mini meals division already turns over €500m, which is set to grow as analysts predict European consumers under 35 will spend 50% more on the category.
Covering products like instant noodles, as well as ready-to-heat pasta and rice pots, the category is driven by Gen Z consumers seeking quick, tasty meals in minutes.
“The younger generation views food differently. They want fast, convenient and often all-in-one solutions that still deliver on taste and nutrition,” says Unilever mini meals global innovation manager Marcelo Morishito Costa.
Knorr’s sales of instant meals in Europe
Knorr, which first sold dried soups in 1873, will front Unilever’s category push across most of Europe. A series of pasta snack pots have been rolled out across the continent to tap into the rising demand for quick food.
It has seen mid-single digit growth in markets where Unilever’s mini meals ranges have launched, including Germany, Poland, Pakistan, the US and India.
In part, success has been down to Knorr’s innovation and new product development (NPD) teams tapping into and marketing brands and products aligned with local tastes.
In India, Unilever has pushed Spicy Kimchi and Black Bean K-Pot varieties out into the market, which “tap into recent growing trends for all things Korean in India, with sales more than doubling in India between 2023 and 2024″, adds Morishito Costa.
In the last five years, sales of instant noodle blocks have risen 7% in Europe, with noodle pots growing at 4.9%.
Who is buying mini meals?
Time-poor consumers who aren’t confident in the kitchen or would rather be doing other things are buying into the category.
As well as Knorr, Unilever is utilising other ‘power brands’ in its stable, like Pot Noodle in the UK and Amino in Poland.
The business is also firm on expanding its mini meals portfolio, tying launches into CEO Hein Schumacher’s Growth Action Plan 2030, which will see growth through volume and not price.
As part of the plan, Schumacher announced Unilever would ditch €1bn of food brands over the coming months. The sale of Unox and Zwan was completed last year. Reports that Unilever was consulting with a third-party to sell The Vegetarian Butcher also emerged last year.
The big food boss also announced €1.2bn of NPD platforms over the next three years, which would come from focusing on the business’s portfolio of ‘power brands’.