Meat-loving Americans are eating out less, but researchers have found that they're putting more premium-grade steak on family dinner tables.
Beginning in 2008, cash-strapped consumers in the U.S. shifted to at-home dining. With restaurant business on the decline, meat companies are shipping more of their restaurant fare to grocery stores and consumers are buying it, according to data presented at the Worldwide Food Expo.
"Before, if you wanted a great steak you had to go to a restaurant. Now you can get it in the grocery store," said Merrill Shugoll, president of Shugoll Research.
Supermarket sales of all meat have improved this year, which had Shugoll optimistic for better sales ahead. This improvement has been attributed to lower prices and to supermarkets aggressively marketing meat.
Shugoll and Michael Uetz, of Midan Marketing, presented their survey results and separate marketing data, which showed a 12 per cent increase in the volume of supermarket meat and poultry sales in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier. But they acknowledged that improvement compares with "horrible" 2008 sales.
