All-day breakfast drinks

It’s called the most important meal of the day, yet 23% of Australians aged 14+ (4.5 million people) say they ‘seldom have time for breakfast’, according to Roy Morgan Research.

Time-saving breakfast drinks such as Up & Go and Nutri-Grain Breakfast Fuel aim to provide busy people with a quick and easy way to kick-start their day, but in reality only 10% of those who ‘seldom have time for breakfast’ consume breakfast drinks in an average week.

The research shows that even people with little time for breakfast are considerably more likely to eat cereal or porridge than to consume a breakfast drink.

In any given week, cereals such as cornflakes and muesli (ie, non-biscuit varieties) are the most widely consumed breakfast choice among both the general population (33%) and those people who say they seldom have time to eat breakfast (24%).

While one in every 10 people who don’t have time for breakfast consume breakfast drinks (making them more likely than the average Australian to do so), this still leaves nine out of 10 who don’t drink them.

However, although breakfast drink brands have not made huge inroads with consumers who rarely have time for breakfast, breaking down the numbers further reveals interesting information about the way ‘breakfast drinks’ are actually consumed.

Of the total Australians who consume breakfast drinks in an average week, only 38% claim to seldom have time for breakfast, raising the likelihood that the drinks are being consumed as ‘non-breakfast’ beverages too.

Norman Morris, industry communications director, Roy Morgan Research, said it’s fair to conclude that many people are consuming breakfast drinks for ‘non-breakfast’ purposes — as a protein drink or an energy drink.

“In fact, while people who consume breakfast drinks are markedly more likely than the average Australian to report that ‘I seldom have time to have breakfast’, they’re even more likely to agree that ‘I sometimes buy drinks that boost my energy’. They also show an elevated tendency to ‘look for drinks with added ingredients that are good for my body’,” said Morris.