Research For Marketing Practitioners Assignment

Research For Marketing Practitioners - Assignment Example About half of the dishes are made up of ethnic dishes, for instance Chinese and Indian, indicating an interest in exotic tastes, but some of the recipes are made up of Continental recipes, such as Italian. Italian ready meals are made up of pasta which has a healthy image and attractive to children and students. The vegetable-based ready meals sector is also growing and attractive to students. This is followed by the fish-based and then the meat-based. Considered health foods are primarily made up of vegetables and fish. The UK has been hailed as the most developed market in Europe when it comes to chilled ready meals. (Dennis and Stringer 2000, p. 14) In 1994, chilled ready meals had a per capita consumption of 1 kg., compared to Germany’s 0.3 kg, France’s 0.2 kg and Spain’s .1 kg. In other words, the potential for chilled ready meals is great in the UK and if this is reflected in Europe, it has great future potential for business venture. (Dennis and Stringer 2 000, p. 14) Pizza sales registered a high growth of 10% during the period 1994-97. Manufacturers wanted to stimulate more demands for pizzas by introducing various flavours and in exploiting consumer’s growing love for exotic tastes. ... Mixed salads with new varieties of leaves have also been introduced to the craving palates of students. Manufacturers have introduced sandwiches, a favorite feature of student snacks. The British Sandwich Association released statistics stating that sandwiches have been hailed as the most popular fast food in the UK. It has a market of ?3.25 billion and fast growing at a rate of 13% annually. Sandwiches have been reported to represent 41% of the fast food sector, while burgers only represent 18%, and fish and chips only represent 12%. Sandwiches are a favorite snacks meal for the British, with the UK having the world’s highest per capita consumption of sandwiches. And this is true for men, women and children. (Dennis and Stringer 2000, p. 15) This paper is a proposal to outline a research programme to test a range of meals amongst the student population in the UK. The client is focusing on selling low value/medium quality product ranges, and is particularly interested in the m arket for consumers on limited incomes.  Ã‚   Their product consists of a range of nutritious, but reasonably priced ready meals – individual and paired servings – and is targeted on the UK student population.  Ã‚   2.0 Research Objective The purpose of this paper is to determine the growing demand of ready meals from the UK student population and to determine what particular dishes they require for snacks, lunch and dinner. For this company to meet its goals, it is essential that the food shall be tested by the students in a specific university which has been identified by the client. The university is a popular institution of higher learning with a very large population and can represent the student population in London. This research will determine