Australia’s love of meat pies shows no signs of abating, according to the latest findings from Roy Morgan Research.

The number of Australians (aged 14+) who like eating pies (and pasties) has grown from 8.1 million (42.6%) to almost 9.4 million people (47.5%) since 2013, the market research company says.

Pie fans are more likely to live in rural areas than capital cities, with 51.0% of country Aussies partial to pies/pasties, compared with 45.6% of city dwellers.

South Australia, the home of the famous ‘pie floater, is the Australia’s pie heartland, as illustrated in the chart below:

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), October 2015-September 2016, n=14,416

A male-dominated food fancy: Australia’s pie fans by gender

Men comprise 57.4% and women the remaining 42.6%, as this chart indicates:

A pie chart about pies.. Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), October 2015-September 2016, n=14,416

The football connection

Roy Morgan data confirms that footy and pies are a match made in heaven, with supporters’ level of ‘involvement’ in their chosen code also having some bearing on their penchant for pies.

An above-average proportion of AFL supporters (56.4%) like eating pies/pasties, with financial members of AFL clubs (59.0%) and supporters who attend matches (59.8%) being even more partial to them.

Similar proportions of general NRL supporters (55.5%) and financial members of NRL clubs (55.4%) are pie fans, while supporters who attend matches (56.3%) are slightly more likely to like eating them.

Meanwhile, 58.5% of A-League supporters like pies/pasties, a higher proportion than either AFL or NRL supporters.

In contrast to the other two codes, pies are more popular with A-League supporters who watch matches on TV (56.7%) than attend matches (54.4%) or are paid-up members of an A-League club (52.4%).

Football supporters, their level of involvement, and pies/pasties

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Aust), October 2015-September 2016, n=14,416. Base: Australians 14+

Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director, Roy Morgan Research, said few would be surprised to learn that pie fans were popular with supporters of the three main football codes.

“After all, buying a pie while at a match is almost obligatory, a fact clearly not lost on AFL/NRL sponsor Four’n Twenty.”

Further points to come from the Roy Morgan Research included:

• 59.1% of people in the high-earning, house-proud Career & Kids segment like eating pies/pasties. “This family-oriented group spends a lot of their leisure time at home, and are certainly not averse to grabbing some take-away to enjoy while watching a movie with the kids on their state-of-the-art entertainment system,” Mr Morris said.
• On the other hand, less than 35% of the socially active hipsters from the Social Flyers segment like eating pies, preferring more exotic, bespoke dining experiences. “It would make little sense for a pie retailer such as Pie Face to set up shop in a neighbourhood with a concentration of Social Flyers.”