The ready to eat food market comprises of packaged food that requires minimum or no preparation for a full meal. These products provide convenience and nutrition on the go for consumers with busy lifestyles. Ready to eat products include snack bars, beverages, sandwiches, noodles, and pasta. The rising demand for healthy, tasty, and convenient food options has driven innovation in this space, with products containing organic, vegan, gluten free, high protein, and low sugar ingredients.
The global ready to eat food market is estimated to be valued at US$ 182.45 billion in 2024 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 12% over the forecast period between 2024 to 2031.
Key players operating in The Ready To Eat Food Market include Biogen Inc., AstraZeneca PLC, Pfizer Inc., Novartis International AG, Merck & Co., Inc., Sanofi S.A., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Medtronic plc, Boston Scientific Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Ceregene Inc., BioTime Inc., Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc., Neuralstem, Inc., and StemCells Inc.
Key Takeaways
Key players: Biogen Inc. is a leader in ready to eat cereals, sandwich and beverage products. AstraZeneca PLC offers a wide range of ready meals catering to global tastes.
Growing demand: The increasing workload and busy lifestyles have boosted the demand for ready to eat foods that can be quickly prepared and consumed anywhere. The market is driven by convenience seeking consumers who prefer nutrition on the go.
Global expansion: Major players are expanding their international presence by adapting product offerings to local tastes. The ready to eat food market witnesses high growth in developing regions of Asia Pacific and Latin America due to rising income levels and shift towards western consumption patterns.
Market key trends
Consumers are increasingly health-conscious and prefer ready to eat options with organic, vegan, gluten-free or high protein ingredients. Product innovation is focused on delivering greater nutrition in convenient packaging. Automation is being used extensively in production to improve efficiency, reduce costs and pass on savings to customers. Packaging technology is advancing to enhance product safety, shelf-life and portability. E-commerce platforms enable easy access to a wide variety of ready to eat meals for on-demand consumption.
Porter’s Analysis
Threat of new entrants: New players find it difficult to enter the ready-to-eat food market due to the significant initial investments required, high competition, and recognized brands in the market.
Bargaining power of buyers: Buyers have moderate bargaining power due to the availability of substitute products. However, buyers have less bargaining power due to the buyer’s convenience preference for ready to eat foods.
Bargaining power of suppliers: Food producers and distributors face low bargaining power from suppliers due to the availability of substitutes.
Threat of new substitutes: Threat of new substitutes is high as there are many substitute products available according to the convenience factor.
Competitive rivalry: The market is highly competitive due to many global and regional players.
Geographical Regions Where Market is Concentrated in Terms of Value
North America region dominates the ready to eat food market due to busy lifestyles and emphasis on convenience foods. The United States holds the largest share of the North America market owing to demand for packaged and processed foods. The Asia Pacific region is also growing at a faster pace due to rising income levels, awareness towards health and increasing popularity of western food habits. China and India are the major markets in the Asia Pacific region due to rapid urbanization and rising disposable incomes.
Fastest Growing Geographical Region for the Market
The Asia Pacific region is projected to be the fastest growing market for ready to eat foods during the forecast period. Factors such as growing working population, rising income levels, increasing population, changing consumer taste preferences towards convenience foods are expected to drive the demand for ready to eat foods in Asia Pacific region. Rapid economic growth in emerging countries of Asia Pacific such as China and India has augmented disposable income and improved living standards. This is further propelling the growth of ready to eat food market in this region.
