MILAN, Italy – Despite continuing to be frugal with everyday purchases, European shoppers are spending extravagantly on indulgent food moments that nourish both mind and body at a time when worries about global conflict, climate concerns and ongoing economic pressures now shape daily life.

Forget carbs, fat, sugar and alcohol. Today, indulgence in food is about exciting and new global flavours, carefully sourced ingredients and even acquiring new cooking skills. A well-curated meal kit can scratch the indulgence itch as much as a chocolate bar or tub of ice cream. An enjoyable restaurant visit is as much about socialising, ambience and discovering new cuisines as it is about leaving with a full stomach.

Snacks are no longer just eaten between meals, but alongside and instead of a traditional breakfast, lunch or dinner. 13% of Europeans say they eat snacks instead of a main meal and 28% consume them alongside. Further, four out of 10 snack products consumed outside the home are now eaten at lunch or dinner.

Never mind crisps and chocolate bars, almost anything can function as a snack, including pickles, boiled eggs and even frozen pizza. What matters to consumers is that their snack of choice fits into their day and meets their lifestyle needs.

With many more natural, high-protein and minimally processed options to choose from, it is not surprising that almost half of European consumers say snacking regularly is a form of self-care, while 73% indulge while watching screens with nearly half regarding it as a wellbeing ritual.

Spend on ‘snacking meals’ is up 4.5% in foodservice outlets and up 9.6% in retail foodservice (a combined total of €64 billion).

Snacking now accounts for nearly 40% of all edible grocery value, delivering €234bn in value sales; up 2.9% or an additional €7bn in 2024 compared to 2023.

“Eating is no longer just about satisfying hunger; it’s about boosting moods, adding excitement to every meal and enhancing everyday rituals,” said . “The convenience, flexibility and variety offered by snack foods is a great example. Today, snacks are less a guilty pleasure and more a deliberate purchase.”

Ordering delivery is one of the most expensive ways you can get food into your home, but savvy Europeans are using delivery to cleverly manage spend while still getting to experience restaurant-quality food. By ordering just the main for delivery and buying the starters, desserts and drinks from the grocery store, they are turning a €120 restaurant visit into a €50 pizza delivery occasion while preserving a lot of the same enjoyment.

This is one of the reasons why delivery continues to do surprisingly well in Europe even as cost-of-living pressures have increased – with spend in the last year at €29bn on foodservice deliveries, up from €26bn in 2023.

“The desire for greater control goes beyond ingredients,” said Consumers are watching their spending, asking for doggy bags and planning meal occasions carefully. This isn’t just budgeting; it’s a form of empowerment. As people’s emotional needs from food change, the line between what they buy in grocery stores and bars, restaurants and other foodservice outlets is blurring.”

This is also evident in food retail. After years of rapid growth for the discounters, Europeans are falling back in love with the supermarket again. In the last year, supermarket unit sales grew by 1.6% compared with just 0.8% for the discounters.

• 20% of European consumers now claim that taking their doggy bags home is important to them and say they see it as an act of sustainability. Saving money is the main motivation for requesting a doggy bag, but the desire to reduce food waste also plays a role. A further 19% would like to see leftovers donated to charities.

Circana is a leader in providing technology, AI, and data to fast-moving consumer packaged goods companies, durables manufacturers, and retailers seeking to optimize their businesses. Circana’s predictive analytics and technology empower clients to measure their market share, understand the underlying consumer behavior driving it, and accelerate their growth. Circana’s Liquid Data^® technology platform is powered by an expansive, high-quality data set and intelligent algorithms trained on six decades of domain expertise.

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Eat Play Love methodology

This report leverages Circana’s extensive coverage of European food retail, foodservice, prestige beauty, and toys covering sales of consumer goods across hundreds of categories, billions of SKUs across five European countries including the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Food retail covers six countries with data from The Netherlands including.  Consumer survey data is also included.