ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. — Consumers seeking to save money on meals away from home are giving more consideration to foodservice offerings at supermarkets, an executive of a research firm said yesterday during a webinar sponsored by The Food Institute here. “Consumers want to save money,” Kevin Higar, a senior manager with Technomic, Chicago, said, and as they reduce their visits to full-service and even limited-service restaurants, more of them are looking to supermarkets for meal solutions. “They are finding real meal options at the grocery store,” he said, “and those options are definitely a competitive threat to restaurants” — a threat that could last beyond the current downturn in the economy, he pointed out. In a separate presentation Danielle Breuel, research and education director for The Food Institute, said retail prices at supermarkets are likely to rise in the second half of the year. “Wholesale prices have been increasing faster than retail prices,” she said, “and retailers have absorbed much of those costs, which benefited consumers. But they have no choice but to raise prices with greater frequency during the rest of this year.”

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