The Grocery Industry Confronts a New Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking [2017]

Harvard Business Publishing ^ | September 22, 2017 | Eddie Yoon

[daniel1212]

I’ve spent two decades consulting extensively for consumer packaged goods companies. Early in my career I gathered some data for a client on cooking. This research found that consumers fell into one of three groups: (1) people who love to cook, and cook often, (2) people who hate to cook, and avoid that activity by heating up convenience food or outsourcing their meals (by ordering out or dining in restaurants), and, finally, (3) people who like to cook sometimes, and do a mix of cooking and outsourcing, depending on the situation. At the time, the sizes of the three respective groups were about 15% who love to cook, 50% who hate to cook, and 35% who are so-so on the idea.

Nearly 15 years later I did a similar study for a different client. This time, the numbers had shifted: Only 10% of consumers now love to cook, while 45% hate it and 45% are lukewarm about it. That means that the percentage of Americans who really love to cook has dropped by about one-third in a fairly short period of time.

Beyond the numbers, it also suggests that our fondness for Food TV has inspired us to watch more Food TV, and to want to eat more, but hasn’t increased our desire to cook. In part, Food TV has raised our standards to discouragingly high levels: How many of us really feel confident in our cooking skills after watching Iron Chef? (My high school chemistry teacher quit the cello in college after playing a semester next to Yo-Yo Ma.) This may be one reason why consumers now spend more on food in restaurants than on groceries.

I’ve come to think of cooking as being similar to sewing. As recently as the early 20th century, many people sewed their own

[Professional Engineer]

Pea Soup Anderson’s was awesome. Started my love of pea and lentil soups.

[GOPJ]

I wish I had taken Mom up on that idea of a basic cookbook with just a couple of tools…and ingredients. Lots of kids (even college-aged) might know the basics by now. My own kids learned how to cook by the time they finished middle school, save the oldest.

You could still write that cookbook - and your story's a great story to put in the front of the book. Of course Steak Diane is dated... but hey - they can try it out on someone special and see what comes of it...

Thanks for sharing.

[catnipman]

“I would ask if you’re my brother, because he is the master of one pan cooking”

actually, i usually use more than one pan, but ultimately combine the different ingredients into a single-bowl dish ...

[SamAdams76]

This would appear to be the root of our obesity problems.

[Jane Long]

Do you buy your Faroe Island Salmon, locally? Have it shipped?

Would love to try that!

[FamiliarFace]

Ahh, my brother uses one pan for cooking. He doesn’t like to do the dishes.

[FamiliarFace]

Yes, my butcher gets it in fresh nearly every day! It’s not cheap, but it is better than every other salmon I’ve ever had. I’ve not found any that’s better.

I’ll ask his contact the next time I’m there. Should be within another few weeks. I stocked up when I was there this week, but he has a sale on frozen stuff on Mondays now. If I have time I’ll go and ask. Will get back to you.

[Jane Long]

Thank you!!

[Lurker]

“ He said the public just can’t get US Prime beef.”

It’s available at our local Costco and the Jewel, both within a half a mile of where I’m sitting. For a real treat I visit the local butcher where I can have my USDA Prime Porterhouse cut to my specifications.

It ain’t cheap, but it is worth it.

L

[FamiliarFace]

A prime porterhouse would have to be just lovely. I need to ask my butcher if he can get that for us.

[dennisw]

Pea Soup Anderson’s was awesome. Started my love of pea and lentil soups.

Wikipedia say there are still two locations left. I like how lentils and split peas are quick to cook. Dried whole peas take longer, and used to be widely eaten in UK and Europe. This is the peas porridge hot from the old nursery rhyme. I have cooked them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pease_Porridge_Hot

[daniel1212]

This would appear to be the root of our obesity problems.

73% of Americans are overweight or obese (42%). But via another form of "cooking" (see thread)it is inferred (CBS) that hunger is a significant problem in the US (don't you experience hunger every day? Do you sometimes not know what you are going to eat? If you can answer Yes or sometimes to 3 of the USDA questions (from which I think the below claims are usually derived) at link covering the last 12 months, then you also can be said to be "food insecure.")

Study finds nearly 25% of Americans are food insecure MoneyWatch Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults sometimes don't get enough to eat...

Experts predicted America was racing towards a "looming hunger cliff." They were right, data shows (https://www.salon.com/2023/07/05/experts-predicted-america-was-racing-towards-a-looming-hunger-cliff-they-were-right-data-shows/)

Sep 6, 2022 — 1 in 8 kids in the United States are living with hunger. (https://www.nokidhungry.org/blog/how-many-kids-united-states-live-hunger)

The 18 most highly compensated employees [at nokidhungry.org] were reported to be:

• $489,966:  William H Shore, Founder, Executive Chairman, Director
• $487,040:  Thomas Nelson, President and CEO, Secretary
• $358,427:  Peter Kaye, Former Chief, Revenue and Marketing (until 5/2019)
• $314,035:  Charles Scofield, EVP
• $269,971:  Diana Hovey, SVP, Corporate Partnerships
• $265,573:  Lisa Davis, SVP, No Kid Hungry Program
• $264,597:  Debbie Shore, Co-Founder
• $255,941:  Serena Williams, SVP, Chief People Officer
• $249,492:  Jill Davis, SVP, Chief Revenue Officer
• $237,983:  Jessica Sherry, SVP, CFO
• $237,545:  Richard Kostro, SVP, CIO
• $230,280:  Amy Zganjar, SVP, Development
• $207,217:  Clay Dunn, SVP, Chief Comm. Officer (until 9/2019)
• $198,293:  Diane Clifford, Managing Director, Constituent Dev and Ops
• $195,589:  Eliott Gaskins, Managing Director, Development
• $181,961:  Julie Chen, General Counsel
• $172,747:  Andrea Hoefling, Director, Development (national market)
• $169,174:  Stacy Roth, Managing Director, Organizational Planning 34 million people are food insecure in the United States. That's millions of people facing hunger. (https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america)

  1 in 8 children in America worry about their next meal (https://www.big>feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/child-hunger-facts)

  Executive Compensation at Feeding America (2021)
   137 employees [feedingamerica.org] received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 19 most highly compensated employees listed below:

  • $969,325:  Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO
  • $485,738:  Katherine Fitzgerald, EVP and COO
  • $434,516:  Paul Henrys, Treasurer
  • $395,840:  Catherine Davis, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
  • $390,301:  Katherine Leone, Chief Government Relations Officer (until 2/21)
  • $377,707:  Maryann Byrdak, Chief Information Officer
  • $364,216:  Blake Thompson, Chief Supply Chain Officer
  • $359,019:  Kathryn Strickland, Chief Network Officer
  • $348,730:  Ami McReynolds, Chief Equity and Programs Officer
  • $341,074:  Matt Hayes, Chief HR Officer
  • $324,533:  Alan Dorantes,  Chief of Staff and GC (until 1/21)
  • $272,695:  Claire Wellington, Secretary
  • $268,352:  Nancy Curby, SVP,Strategic Partnerships
  • $261,946:  Daniel Nisbet, VP of Development
  • $238,879:  Elizabeth Nielson, SVP Digital and Direct Marketing
  • $237,913:  Matt Hackler, VP, Strategic Capacity Development
  • $233,594:  Lauren Biedron, VP, Corp Partnerships
  • $222,295:  Andrea Yao, Former Secretary (until 6/16)
  • $198,611:  Casey Marsh, Chief Development Officer

  The 19 employees listed above were compensated nearly $7 million which equates to an average compensation of $370,000.

  A graphic showing 783 million people who don't know where their next meal will come from (https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/emergency-response/hunger-and-famine-crisis)

  Executive Compensation at Save the Children (2021) The 20 most highly compensated employees were reported to be:

  • $583,432:  Janti Soeripto, President and CEO
  • $490,272:  Mark K Shriver, SVP, US Programs
  • $488,891:  Eric Howell, EVP and COO
  • $457,335:  Greg Ferrante, CFO
  • $404,312: Jennifer Roberti, VP, Marketing, Communications, and Fundraising
  • $402,067:  Debbie Pollock-Berry, VP and Chief of HR
  • $382,381:  David Barth, VP, International Programs
  • $351,665:  Brian White, VP, General Counsel
  • $335,319:  Luciana Bonifacio, VP, Resource Development
  • $330,784:  Ingrid Milne, AVP, Interim CFO (thru (3/31/2020)
  • $331,442:  Daniel P Abbott, Chief of Party
  • $331,147:  Sarah Angel-Johnson, VP, IT and Building Ops
  • $317,986:  Gregory A Ramm, VP, Humanitarian Response
  • $316,395:  Elizabeth A Zorio, AVP, US Programs
  • $315,981:  Nathalie H Gamache, Deputy Chief of Party HIHS, PR
  • $309,958:  Cynthia P Yeatman, VP, Corporate Partnership
  • $303,727:  Nora K O’Connell, VP, Public Policy Advocacy (thru 12/21)
  • $291,887:  Eid Natour, AVP, US Programs
  • $204,906:  Christy Gleason, VP, Policy and Hum Response (as of 4/21)
  • $198,764  Andrea Williamson, Corporate Secretary

  The 20 most highly compensated employees received more than $7 million in compensation.

  Catholic Charities, with a billion in revenues, paid their president $521,554 and their CFO $310,000, last year. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2020/06/11/should-non-profit-us-food-bank-executives-earn-up-to-11-million-per-year/?sh=7ba37e3dd5ba)

[RoosterRedux]

This would appear to be the root of our obesity problems.

Yes. In part.

The root cause of American obesity is sugar, mostly consumed via high carbohydrate foods. The foods one buys already prepared, either for consumption at home, in a car, or in a restaurant, are high in carbohydrates (breads, pastries, potatoes, rice, pasta, etc.).

Of course, alcohol is also basically sugar.

[Elsie]

Sep 6, 2022 — 1 in 8 kids in the United States are living with hunger.

Even with ALL of the food programs our taxes fund??

[Elsie]

Sep 6, 2022 — 1 in 8 kids in the United States are living with hunger.

Dang!

I'm hungry myself right now!

[daniel1212]

I'm hungry myself right now!

Then you are one of the 1 out of ate.