• Outside the weather, barbecue occasions are driven primarily by enjoyment and indulgence needs, with convenience playing a secondary role. Despite the growing importance of health among the population, the number of occasions have grown year on year.
• The Indian summer of 2016 contributed to a total of 115 million individual occasions, up nine million on 2015. The growth can be attributed to weekday occasions as those at the weekend declined, making it key for convenience outlets to have the right offering in their stores on those days. Consumers are already thinking about barbecues towards the end of April so timing BBQ ranges in store is key.
• Sausages and burgers remain the most popular categories with each having 27% share of occasions. This year was a particularly poor year for chicken, which saw a decline of 6.3 million occasions.
• This was driven by a change in consumer at the barbecue occasion. This year, family occasions grew to a 50% share of barbecues, taking two percentage points from adult-only occasions. This change is reflected in the relative performance of different accompaniments: bread/rolls (up 8.2 million occasions), carbonated drinks (up 8.4 million) and cheese (up four million) were the categories to see most growth year on year, while fresh veg and alcohol declined. Beefburgers, sausages, pork and fish fared particularly well on the barbecue but it was a poor year for chicken, hit by a shift to family gatherings and a decline in adult-only occasions.

Sam Sear, Kantar Worldpanel