Consumer and Corporate Food Gifting in the U.S., 8th Edition

In 2020 and 2021, the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant effect on consumer food purchases. Packaged Facts has found that 67% of consumers report purchasing food gifts for others in the last year and 69% have purchased food gifts for themselves during the same period.

During the pandemic, food gifts have been a good gift to send directly to people who are staying at home because they are practical, easy to ship, comforting, and a good way to send treats to someone who cannot be visited in person.

With a focus on “what’s next” and current consumer trends, Consumer and Corporate Food Gifting in the U.S. is packed with insights about consumer trends, behavior, and motivations to help food producers, retailers, packaging companies, employers, and investors gauge consumer perspectives and find areas for growth in a competitive market.

Consumer and Corporate Food Gifting in the U.S. delivers actionable predictions and recommendations designed to guide producers, retailers, and investors in making business decisions by providing data and insights about what consumers think about foods and beverages and snacking, and how they feel about various diets and food lifestyles.

Scope

Consumer and Corporate Food Gifting in the U.S. is the go-to source for a complete understanding of U.S. consumer and corporate trends in the food gifting market. This report combines Packaged Facts’ extensive monitoring of the food and beverage market with proprietary surveys, and evaluates current trends and future directions for marketing and retailing, along with consumer patterns during the pandemic and across the broader food and beverage market.

Food gifts are defined as food items that are packaged in a way that is suitable for gifting. Food gifts must be purchased; a food item prepared at home and given to someone as a gift is not included in this market.

The food gifting market includes food gifts ranging from baskets of treats to eat while watching football to food gift baskets given to people on Christmas or birthdays. Food gifts can be purchased for any occasion or no occasion, for someone else or for oneself. While some food gifts, particularly assortments, may include beverages such as coffee or alcohol, those products as standalone gifts are excluded from this report (e.g., a single bottle of wine given as a gift and selected by the buyer). Food baskets refer to prepackaged assortments of foods and beverages, not consumer-assembled baskets of these items.

5There are many prepackaged food gifts available in the marketplace. These include:

• Boxed chocolates/candies
• Cheese assortments
• Coffee/tea/hot chocolate gifts
• Cooking condiment sets
• Food baskets/assortments
• Fruit baskets/gifts
• Gift baskets or packages with wine or other alcoholic beverages
• International/imported food gifts
• Meat/deli/seafood food gifts
• Nut/salty snack food gifts
• Popcorn tins/gifts
• Sweet baked food gifts
• Sweet condiment sets
• U.S. regional or souvenir food gifts
• Other food gifts, such as meal kits or prepackaged meals

Historical and projected retail sales are provided for food gifts segmented by consumer-purchased gifts and corporate-purchased gifts. Additionally, Consumer and Corporate Food Gifting in the U.S. has dozens of tables showcasing numerical survey data on consumer demographics and psychographics and numerous product and marketing photographs. This report goes in-depth on COVID-19 trends affecting the food and beverage market.

Report Methodology

The information contained in Consumer and Corporate Food Gifting in the U.S. was developed from primary and secondary research sources. Primary research includes interviews with food and beverage market experts; participation in and attendance at food industry events; and extensive internet canvassing.

Primary research also includes national online consumer polls of U.S. adult consumers (age 18+) conducted on an ongoing basis by Packaged Facts to analyze attitudes of consumers and their relevant food and beverage preferences.

Survey data from MRI-Simmons are used to analyze the demographics and psychographics of consumers.

Supplementing Packaged Facts’ exclusive survey is analysis of the 2021 Food & Health Survey conducted by the International Food Information Council, which analyzes consumer food purchase decisions, diet and lifestyle choices, snacking activity, and perception of health benefits in foods.