Food and beverage market research
Food and beverage market research that reflects how people really choose
Food and beverage market research is about understanding what drives choice, where growth sits, and what it takes to win more of the moments that matter, across retail and foodservice. It spans brand positioning, occasion and shopper research, innovation and flavor testing, path to purchase and brand health. Basis runs it across the US, UK and globally, for a single launch or a full portfolio.
Food and drink are among the fastest decisions people make, and among the most varied. The same person grabs a snack without thinking, reaches for their usual coffee, and weighs up where to take the family on Friday, all in the same week. Treat those as one kind of decision and you miss what actually moves each choice.
You don’t compete for meals. You compete for moments.
Food and drink brands tend to think in products, menus and locations. People don’t. They think about the moment they’re in: something quick between meetings, a coffee on the way to work, somewhere to take the kids, dinner with friends, a treat because the day’s been a write-off. The same person can choose completely different brands for each.
The decision is usually fast, but the moment behind it changes everything, the cue might be hunger, habit, convenience, price, company or simply what looks good right now. Some moments are pure reflex: in our 2026 study, snacking was the lowest-stress decision of any category, 65% of soft-drink buyers considered only the brand they picked, and even fast food is a snap call, only 1% put in any real deliberation and 61% consider just the one brand they buy. Others, a Friday dinner, a place to celebrate, are more open. The brand that wins Tuesday lunch isn’t always the one that wins Saturday night.
So the real work isn’t simply understanding your customer. It’s understanding the moments you win, the moments you lose, and what it takes to be the obvious answer when each one comes around. In a category chosen occasion by occasion, that’s the whole game.
What great food and drink research delivers
In a category chosen occasion by occasion, the job of research is to show what actually makes you the obvious choice in the moment, not just what people say about you.
We help food and drink brands:
- Understand how people really choose, by occasion, from a snack to a night out
- Map the occasions and moments you win, and the ones you’re missing
- Build mental and physical availability, being easy to remember and easy to choose
- Develop and test new products, menus, flavors and formats before they launch
- Sharpen positioning that gets noticed, on shelf, on the high street or in the app
- Find where growth sits, in new occasions, audiences and needs
- Map the path to purchase across store, online, delivery and out of home
- Track brand health over time, salience, availability and the pull to switch
How a food and drink study comes together
No off-the-shelf template. We build every food and drink study around the decision in front of you, then choose the methods that answer it.
That usually means a mix. Qualitative work to get inside the occasion and the cue that triggers the choice. Quantitative research to size occasions, segments and demand, and to separate real preference from habit. Organic Intelligence, our AI and big-data practice, to read across millions of real food and drink conversations and reviews. Cultural and trend analysis to tell a lasting shift from a passing moment. And customer journey work, through Touchpoint 360°, to follow the choice across store, online, delivery and out of home.
AI runs through all of it, from how we read conversation at scale to how we model demand. The judgment about what it means for your brand stays human.
Food and beverage market research FAQ
What is food and beverage market research?
Food and beverage market research is how food and drink brands understand how people really choose, across retail and foodservice, and what makes them the obvious choice in the moment. It covers brand positioning, occasion and shopper research, innovation and flavor testing, path to purchase and brand health. Basis runs it across the US, UK and globally, for a single launch or a full portfolio.
How do people choose what to eat and drink?
By occasion, and usually fast. The same person grabs a snack without thinking, reaches for a usual coffee, orders a Friday takeaway and books somewhere for a celebration, choosing different brands for each. Some moments are pure reflex; in Basis’s 2026 study 65% of soft-drink buyers considered only the brand they picked. Others are more open. Being the obvious choice for the moment beats winning a rational argument.
What types of food and beverage research does Basis offer?
Basis offers brand positioning and messaging, occasion and shopper research, innovation and flavor or menu testing, segmentation, path-to-purchase mapping, and brand health tracking, for food and drink brands across retail and foodservice. Every project is scoped around the commercial question and the way the category is actually chosen, from a single launch to a full portfolio strategy.
What makes a food or drink brand the default choice?
Mental and physical availability: being the brand that comes to mind first and is easy to choose at the moment the decision happens. In a category chosen occasion by occasion, familiarity, standout and the occasion cue do more than any rational claim. Basis identifies the triggers, occasions and habits that make you the automatic pick, and where a rival could break the routine.
Can Basis research restaurants and fast-food brands?
Yes. Basis researches restaurants, fast-food and QSR brands, cafes, food-to-go and other foodservice businesses, alongside packaged food and drink brands. We look at brand positioning, customer choice, occasions, innovation, experience, path to purchase and brand health, adapting the research to how each category is actually chosen, whether that’s a snack grabbed off a shelf or where someone decides to eat out.
What is foodservice market research?
Foodservice market research helps restaurants, QSRs, cafes, food-to-go and other eating-out brands understand what drives customer choice, which occasions they can win, how they’re perceived against competitors, and what makes people visit, order, return or recommend. Basis applies the same decision-first approach across brand, occasion, experience, innovation and customer journey research.
How is food and drink research different from other categories?
It’s one of the fastest and most varied decisions people make, settled by habit, appetite, convenience, price, company and mood rather than deliberation, and it changes completely by occasion. So a single blended view misses what moves each choice. It also spans retail and out-of-home at once. Basis reads the category occasion by occasion, the way the choice is really made.
Which markets can Basis run food and beverage research in?
Basis runs food and beverage market research in the US, the UK and globally from a single team, rather than stitching together separate local suppliers. That means consistent method and comparable results across markets, with local nuance where it matters, useful for food and drink brands managing a portfolio across regions and occasions.
Food and drink research in action
A decade of turning insight into growth
For over ten years we’ve helped one of the world’s biggest grocery retailers connect what customers think to what they spend, shaping major campaigns and prioritizing the brand moves that drive real growth.
Learn more →
Amplifying what customers love most
Immersive in-store research across Eataly’s North American stores defined what makes the experience special, feeding a store-by-store strategy that lifted footfall, repeat visits and basket size.
Learn more →Why food and drink teams choose Basis
We understand that food and drink is chosen occasion by occasion, fast and mostly from familiarity, and that being the obvious choice in the moment beats winning an argument. So we don’t hand over a deck of claims and disappear. We work with your team to show how people really choose, and turn it into products, positioning and experiences that get chosen.
What we bring:
- Deep food and drink expertise across retail and foodservice, from impulse snacks to staples to eating out
- A decision-first approach, built around how people actually choose, occasion by occasion
- Fluency in occasion, availability and what makes a brand the obvious choice
- End-to-end capability across qual, quant, Organic Intelligence and cultural insight
- The confidence to challenge the assumption that people deliberate, and the focus to find where you really grow
Be the easy, obvious choice
We help food and drink brands understand what makes them the automatic pick, occasion by occasion, and win more of the moments that count.
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