Abstract Time scarcity is an important driver for food choices. Despite this, little research has been conducted on the preferences of consumers and their willingness to pay for reduced food preparation times. We have explored consumer preferences with respect to saving time in cooking, using a payment card technique with an online survey on a sample of German (486 in number) and Italian (494) consumers. Our findings differ from those of other studies on the same context of daily duties, such as commuting, which note a general willingness to pay for time-saving. Indeed, latent class analysis shows three segments: the ‘quickies’, who are willing to pay a premium for saving time; the ‘foodies’, who receive utility in cooking; and the ‘indifferent’, for whom the time needed to prepare meals is not a choice factor. Profiling within our sample indicates that Italians, young people, and large families show a higher willingness to pay for saving time in cooking. Consumer heterogeneity calls on convenience food producers for targeted marketing strategies to create value, from product development to communication and distribution.

中文翻译：

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关于食物准备时间的异质偏好：美食家和快餐

摘要 时间稀缺是食物选择的重要驱动因素。尽管如此，关于消费者的偏好和他们愿意为减少食物准备时间而支付的研究很少。我们使用支付卡技术对德国（486 名）和意大利（494 名）消费者的样本进行了在线调查，探讨了消费者在节省烹饪时间方面的偏好。我们的研究结果不同于在日常职责相同背景下的其他研究，例如通勤，后者表明人们普遍愿意为节省时间付费。事实上，潜在类别分析显示了三个部分：“快手”，他们愿意为节省时间支付高价；'美食家'，在烹饪中获得效用；和“冷漠”，对他们来说准备饭菜所需的时间不是一个选择因素。我们样本中的分析表明，意大利人、年轻人和大家庭更愿意为节省烹饪时间而支付费用。消费者异质性要求方便食品生产商制定有针对性的营销策略，以创造价值，从产品开发到传播和分销。