The ready-made meals market in Spain

Ready-made meals are prepared dishes that require very little preparation, or simply reheating before being eaten. Available in various forms (canned, vacuum-packed, etc.), ready-made meals have gradually invaded supermarket shelves. They correspond to a trend towards faster, more convenient consumption by consumers who spend less time preparing meals.

today, we are witnessing a diversification of recipes - both quantitatively and qualitatively - and of the foods used - meat, vegetables, seafood, fish - to suit new market segments with more demanding quality requirements.

Globally, the ready-made meals market has experienced strong growth in recent years, and is set to grow at an average rate of around 5.1% a year between 2022 and 2030.

In terms of sales to households, supermarkets and hypermarkets account for around 60% of ready meal sales, grocery stores for around a quarter of sales, while online sales are the third-largest sales channel in absolute terms, but show the strongest growth.

In Spain, the ready-cooked meals market is traditionally split between chilled meals, which represent the largest market segment by value, frozen meals, which rank second, and other types of meal, which account for less than 20% of the total. The ready-cooked meals market declined in 2020.

Sales to hotels, restaurants and cafés collapsed following the confinements imposed by the Spanish government. conversely, sales to private consumers soared, as Spaniards, trapped in their homes, began to consume more ready-made meals. However, this craze was not enough to offset the loss of revenue generated by hotels and restaurants: the market shrank by 1.5% over the period. Sales recovered well in 2021, however, and the market exceeded its 2019 level. Aided by sanitary relaxations, the market was also able to count on sustained household demand.