Source: The Mercury, Saturday, July 29, 1995, p.3
Source: The Mercury, Saturday, July 29, 1995, p.3
AUSTRALIANS are eating
less take-away fast food
opting for healthier salads
yoghurts and foccacia
instead, new research shows.
The fast food industry
which has recorded double-
digit annual growth for more
than a decade, is feeling the
effects as its rate of growth
slows.
The trend is forcing small
takeaway outlets to make a
shift away from fried foods
towards healthier foods, and
to reinvent themselves as
gourmet sandwich bars, for
instance, to survive.
The research was contained
in a new study, Fast Food in
Australia 1995-1997,
prepared by global marketing
intelligence and forecasting
group BIS Shrapnel.
The national study is due to
be released formally in
October.
An ageing population and
greater health consciousness
were the main reasons salad
sandwiches and yoghurt were
replacing hamburgers chips
and pies on the national diet,
researchers found.
Dr Sandro Mangosi, a
senior consultant and
specialist in the Australian
food market with BIS
Shrapnel, says Australians'
eating habits have continued
to change over the past two
years.
Doubts in consumers'
minds about the nutritional
value of fast food were
apparent two years ago-a
trend that has accelerated
since, he said yesterday.
The flipside of the downturn
in the fast-food industry is
significant growth in the
number of restaurants and
cafes, according to the BIS
Shrapnel research.
Dr Mangosi said fast-food
industry growth averaged
10.5 per cent between 1984
and 1989 and 11 per cent
between 1989 and 1993.
But as the 1990s
continued, the trend towards
healthier eating habits
accelerated.
Research in 1993 showed
that: "Although the current
list of most popular meals-
such as fried fish, hot chips,
hamburgers, pizza and meat
pies-is a nutritional
nightmare, there are clear
signs that consumers are
changing their habits and
moving towards healthier
products.
"For instance, the demand
for fruit, fruit juice, yoghurt
and vegetable salads is in-
creasing."
And although 70 per cent
of the population still opted
for quick, cheap fast food
probably bought from a
chain, the trend towards
healthier food was becoming
increasinglyapparent, he
said.
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