• Definition
• Consumer drivers
• Foodservice takeaways
• Retail channels
• Home Meal Replacement
• Survey results and conclusions

Chapter 2 Introduction

• Summary
  • Definition of meal solutions
  • Consumer trends: the key driver of meal solutions
  • The retailers
  • The specialists
  • Conclusions

Chapter 3 Consumer drivers

• Summary
• Introduction
  • Convenience
  
  
• Changing lifestyles
  • Hectic families and the 'just in time society'
  • Household structure
  
  
• Employment trends
  • Longer working hours
  • Women at work
  
  
• Eating out
• Meal demands
  • Consumers looking for full meals cooked to a high standard.
  
  
• Conclusions

Chapter 4 Foodservice takeaways

• Summary
• Introduction
• Market overview
  • The foodservice takeaway concept is more established in the US and UK
  
  
• The UK foodservice takeaway market
  • UK cuisine does not have a strong identity
  • Burger bars
  • Chicken bars
  • Ethnic food
  • Sandwiches
  
  
• Conclusions

Chapter 5 Retail channels

• Summary
• Introduction
  • Convenience is the main factor in store selection
  • What makes the consumer drive past retailer X to shop with retailer Y?
  • Further development of convenience locations
  
  
• Product range development
  • Ready meals market size
  • Pizza market size
  • Country profiles
  • Is the chilled range a destination category?
  • Conclusions on product range development
  
  
• Retail brand development
  • Meal solutions and private label - the story so far
  • Evolving store brands from price discounting to a higher quality offering
  • Experiences from the US in branding meal solutions
  • Conclusions on brand development - the ultimate goal is brand leadership
  • M&S and Tesco signpost the way to private label brand leadership
  
  
• Delivering meal solutions through new store formats
  • Tesco Metro
  • Sainsbury's Local centres on meal solutions platform
  
  
• Conclusions on retail channels

Chapter 6 Home meal replacement

• Summary
• Introduction
  • Will the European experience follow that of the US?
  
  
  • HMR venues in the US
  • Overview
  • Restaurants
  • Multiple retail
  • Convenience formats
  • HMR specialists
  • The Boston Market story - running before it can walk?
  
  
• HMR venues in Europe
  • Overview
  • Restaurants and other horeca
  • Multiple retail
  • Convenience formats
  • Prestige stores
  • HMR specialists
  
  
• The challenge of HMR - operational issues
  • Barriers to entry into the HMR market
  • HMR operations - lessons from the US
  • Vendors - lessons from the US
  • Determining areas of capabilities and possible limitations
  
  
• Conclusions on HMR prospects

Chapter 7 Survey results

• Summary
• Survey introduction
• Survey results
  • The key characteristics of meal solutions
  • Consumer group targeting
  • Type of meal solution offered
  • Relative importance of retail channels for ready meal sales
  • Key advantages for retailers in developing meal solutions
  • Opportunities for manufacturer branding of meal solutions
  • Most important food base for meal solutions
  
  
• About the survey

Chapter 8 Forecasts and conclusions

• Summary
• Forecasts
  • European forecasts
  • US market forecasts
  • Opportunities for HMR specialists in Europe
  
  
• Conclusions
  • The immediate future of meal solutions in Europe will differ from the US
  • Building a retail brand association with mealtimes
  • Albert Heijn's concept store points to the future of meal solutions
  • Aligning merchandising with product usage
  • Products, formats and merchandising

Chapter 9 Appendix

• Glossary
• Sources
• Index