InfoGuides: Business Industry Guide: Consumer Cooking Classes (as of Spring 2020): Market and Consumer Research

Understanding the Market and Consumer - Related Reports

Mintel Reports
Provides market research report insights for market share, consumer profiles, forecasting, driving forces, and distribution methods on very specific consumer markets in the US. Users have access to approx. 800+ unique reports with 220 new reports created each year. Common data sources include: Simmons Consumer Research Information Resources, Inc., (IRI) Nielsen/NPD, Trade Associations and Mintel's unique consumer research. This database is only available to current Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff.

Mintel will assist you with the following aspects of your research:

Consumer Segmentation & Targeting
Demographics & Psychographics
Distribution
Pricing

Tip: Mintel contains in-depth reports on many different consumer markets. The 2018 Cooking Enthusiasts - US report will contain relevant content towards understanding the consumer market. Below are listed all relevant reports.

To locate the below reports, type in the name of the report (e.g., "better for you food and drink trends")

Cooking Enthusiasts - US - October 2018
Loyalty Programs - US - July 2019
Cookware - US - June 2019 contains relevant sections (e.g., Cooking and Baking Frequency reveals attitudes towards cooking/baking at home and taking classes; see also Cooking and Baking Attitudes and Behaviors)
Free-From Food Trends - US - June 2019
Healthy Dining Trends - US - March 2020
Better for You Food and Drink Trends - US September 2017
Healthy Lifestyles - US November 2018

IBIS World
Access to research reports containing key statistics, industry conditions, market characteristics, industry performance, external market drivers, key success factors, and 5-year revenue forecasts for each US industry. Charts and graphs download into Excel, and detailed written analysis provides explanations and insights. Our subscription also includes Global Market Research Reports that analyze 75 of the largest industries on a world-wide scale. This database is only available to current Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff.

Tip: IBIS World contains an industry report that provides analysis of an identified group with which this company may want to do business. Type "corporate wellness" in the keyword search box on the home page to review Corporate Wellness Services in the US 2019.

Rounding Out Your Research - Locating Recent News from Industry Publications

Specialized publications - known as industry or trade publications - help those inside an industry to understand the most recent trends and news impacting sales, growth, and strategy. When you search in the databases below, you will obtain articles from a wide variety of publications for people in the cooking/food industry.

Tip: suggested terms, phrases, and search strings to try

"social cooking" or "cooking classes" or "cooking workshops" or "food preparation"
(education or classes or lessons or workshops) AND (cooking or culinary)
"sustainable food" or cuisine

Consumer Data

Simmons Insights (Formerly Simmons OneView)
Simmons Insights provides survey data from the Simmons National Consumer Study, National Hispanic Consumer Study, and New Media Study. The consumer studies include consumer usage behavior for all major media (more than 450 product categories and over 8,000 brands). The consumer studies include over 700 psychographic measures to understand customer targets across categories such as general attitudes, media, and shopping habits. The New Media Study measures attitudes and use of emerging media technologies. Academic license is restricted to 5 simultaneous users.

Tip: Generate customized Cross-tab Reports on many different demographic variables and filter by geographic region. These are valuable for understanding target market. Search for demographic data for those who reported:

really enjoy cooking
don't prefer fast food to home cooking
refer to recipes when cooking

Need help using Simmons Insight? Check out these tips on creating Cross Tab Reports as well as interpreting Cross Tab Reports by Chad Boeinger at Ohio University as well as his quick video on how to put together a demographic profile.

GfK MRI University Reporter
Note: This resource will be deactivated in June 2021 and will be replaced by Simmons Brand Catalyst.
(REGISTRATION CODE AND ACCOUNT REQUIRED) Accounts expire twice a year on 7/31 and 12/31. You may need to re-register. Provides access to GfK MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer for academic use and allows users to tap into several market segmentation reports. Users will need to create an account using their pepperdine.edu e-mail address, and registration code obtained by Pepperdine librarian. This database is only available to current Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff.

Tip: Use GfK MRI Mediamark Reporter to view demographic data and media viewer rates for those who reported engaging in cooking for fun in varying degrees of frequency (e.g., once in the past year, once per month, 2+ times a week).

Mediamark Reporter Help:

How to Read a Mediamark Report
This one page PDF from Bentley University explains how to interpret data in a Mediamark report.
Mediamark University Internet Reporter Tutorial
This 15 page PDF document explains how to use the Mediamark University Internet Reporter.
How to Use the Mediamark database
This series of Video Tutorials is brought to you by Western Washington University librarian, Elizabeth Stephan.
Mediamark Reporter/MRI+ User Guide Definitions
A guide to commonly used terms in the Mediamark/MRI+ databases.
Mediamark Survey of the American Consumer Questionnaires & Technical Guides
View the personal interview questionnaire, product booklet and technical guide (which includes methodology) used for each survey.

How to Change MRI Mediamark Default Target Settings
This document from Bentley University librarians provides instructions for adding ALL available targets to your default target settings.

Simmons Brand Catalyst (replacing GfK MRI University Reporter)
For access, click Brand Catalyst at the top of the Simmons interface. Simmons Brand Catalyst is a strategy and predictive segmentation tool built on the Simmons Insights platform. It identifies the unique characteristics that differentiates over 8,000 brands. This resource can help marketers define brand identity, differentiate against competitors, create unique personas, and drive effective media, creative, and partnership strategies. Create segments (using Simmons’ Smart Search technology) and compare and contrast up to three brand users or other personas, and dive deep into what defines and motivates these consumers