Chicory’s Bi-Weekly Recipe Trends: Week of 5/26

As Americans collectively entered our umpteenth week of staying home, Memorial Day weekend came and went, with the unofficial kickoff to summer providing us with a glimpse of the unusual summer to come. The traffic and ordering patterns observed in our network over the holiday weekend allowed us to surmise how consumers will behave not only in the season ahead, but even more long-term. Based on engagement from our 100M+ monthly shoppers, consumers are buying the same summer go-tos that they always have, but in much higher volume than in years past.

The Summer Ahead

Year after year, recipe traffic wanes after Memorial Day weekend, as consumers leave the kitchen to spend more time outside and on-the-go during summer months. But as we look ahead to summer with travel restrictions very much still in place and consumers continuing to stay home, recipe traffic levels are still as much as 65% higher than they were pre-coronavirus in 2020, and 105% higher compared to the same time period in 2019.

Even as states slowly re-open and many Americans venture to see family and friends for the first time in months, the meals they’re making are still homemade. And with social distancing remaining top of mind, at-home gatherings like outdoor grilling or picnics will be the primary driver for online grocery purchases for most families and at-home entertainers.

Ingredient Growth 

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, experts across the industry have attempted to determine how long panic-buying and hoarding behavior would last. Memorial Day confirmed that consumers are no longer concerned with pantry-packing. In the first weeks of May, we saw engagement for fresh seasonal fruits like strawberries and blueberries grow within our network by 63.38% and 56.09%, respectively. This trend held strong throughout the rest of May, as consumers turned to buying fresh fruits and vegetables and veered away from shelf-stable goods like dried fruit and pasta that had been so high in-demand at the start of the pandemic.

The two weeks leading up to Memorial Day showed that shoppers are looking to celebrate with the same ingredients that always have--the one caveat being that both cooking and shopping are happening in much higher volume.

Online grocery engagement with top summertime ingredients is holding steady at over 100% growth for each ingredient year over year, and significant growth from even just two weeks ago. While backyard barbecuers may host fewer attendees than in past years, summer entertaining in 2020 is still causing higher consumption of grocery items.

Rhubarb Views Year Over Year

149.477% increase YoY

63.58% increase from April 2020 to May 2020

Ice Cream Views Year Over Year

127.651% increase YoY

15.08% increase from April 2020 to May 2020

Mayonnaise Views Year Over Year

107.159% increase YoY

24.53% increase from April 2020 to May 2020

Hamburger Buns Views Year Over Year

133.199% increase YoY

15.77% increase from April 2020 to May 2020

Succulent Sweets & Summer Sides

Consumers are home and still taking on kitchen challenges. However, they’re trading in their sourdough starters for seasonal sweet treats like rhubarb crisp and perfecting their apple pies (perhaps for an injection of Americana into their Memorial Day celebrations). Also among the recipes showing the most engagement are summer sides, with first-time cooks looking for methods to cook corn on the cob or whip up an authentic potato salad.

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