Buying behaviour of Ready-to-eat Food Consumers Ready-to-eat food products are prepared in advance and can be eaten as sold. This is a relatively...

1.    Buying behaviour of Ready-to-eat Food Consumers

Ready-to-eat food products are prepared in advance and can be eaten as sold. This is a relatively new concept and a growing industry in India. The size of the ready-to-eat market is approximately Rs600- 700 million. The main producers of ready-to-eat food are MTR, Kohinoor, Tasty Bites, Indo-Nissin, Currie Classic and ITC. The major brands available in markets are Maggie, Sun feast, MTR meals and Nissin's cup noodles. Because of the change in lifestyle-nuclear families, working couples, more disposable income and less time to cook - more and more people are opting for ready-to-eat food in a big way.

A survey was conducted t understand the buying behaviour of ready-to-eat find consumers. A questionnaire was prepared for the purpose and was administered to 58 respondents in the age group 18 to 55 with 40 male members and 18 female members. The sample had 53 single and 5 married respondents. One the objectives of the study were to discriminate between heavy users and light users of ready-to-eat food. The following questions were asked.

1.     How often do you eat 'ready-to-eat' food? (X1)

(a)   Rarely (once a month) - coded as 1

(b)  Weekly (1-2 times /week) - coded as 2

(c)   Regularly (3-5 times/week) - coded as 3

2.     Kindly tick any one as your opinion on the parameters given below

Strongly agree                                   (5)

Agree                                                 (4)

Neither agree /nor disagree              (3)

Disagree                                             (2)

Strongly disagree                               (1)

(a)   'Ready -to-eat' packs are very convenient to use (X2A)       

(b)  Ready -to-eat' makes my work very easy (X2B)

(c)   Ready -to-eat' packs are very time saving (X2C)

(d)  Ready -to-eat' food is easily available whenever I need it (X2D)

(e)  Ready -to-eat' Packs are reasonably priced (X2E)

(f)    Ready -to-eat' packs have reasonable amount of nutrition and calories (X2F)

(g)   Ready -to-eat' meal is not as tasty as freshly cooked food (X2G)

(h)  Ready -to-eat' packs are manufactured at accepted quality standards(X2H)

(i)     Ready -to-eat' packs are a good option while travelling (X2I)

(j)    Even if I buy a Ready -to-eat' curry, making chapattis separately takes up my time (X2J)

Questions: