Across Europe, the surge in demand for single-portion food and meals continues to reshape the FMCG and retail landscape. Just about 40 percent of European households are now single adults without children, making it, by far, the biggest type as well as the fastest growing type of household. In addition to these demographic changes, consumers are increasingly becoming time-poor, and shoppers are prioritising convenience, freshness, portion control and reduced food waste. These lifestyle shifts have created fertile ground for innovation in single-serve meals and packaging formats.
Historically many product launches have targeted families with children, since households of multiple people often demand larger pack sizes and more sharing. Retailers and manufacturers have long focused on these families as a core segment — product development, packaging and communications are tailored to the “parent budgeting, family dinner” frame.
What is less discussed and targeted is the growing and future-facing segment of single-person households. These consumers have less storage space, and value convenience, speed and tailored portion sizes; they are less likely to buy large sharing packs or prepare elaborate meals. For manufacturers this means revisiting portion size innovation, tray formats, microwavable single-serve convenience and flexible packaging. For retailers it means adjusting assortment to include more individual-meal formats, ensuring shelf visibility for “just for me” solutions, aligning promotional strategies and own label ranges accordingly.
In observing this shift, meals and packs for those living solo is evolving from a convenience add-on to a mainstream growth engine for the European food industry — and targeting the one-person and small-household segment offers a clear and not yet fully-leveraged opportunity.