The sales of specialty food and beverages were $148.7 billion in 2018, according to The State of the Specialty Food Industry, 2019-2020 Edition from The Specialty Food Association and reported in the Summer 2019 issue of Specialty Food Magazine. That’s a 9.8% increase since 2016.
What’s selling?
The highest growth in retail sales were in refrigerated, fresh, frozen, and plant-based products. The following top 10 categories made up almost half of retail specialty food sales:
The following top 10 categories had the highest dollar growth:
Who’s buying?
Millennials led the way in purchasing specialty food, with 84% buying items in 2018. However, the report notes that older Millennials (ages 35–42) showed patterns similar to Gen X (ages 43–54). The 75% of Gen X who bought specialty food in 2018 were more likely than any other generation to buy products from a wider range of categories.
Findings about Gen X included:
As for the up-and-coming Gen Z (ages 18–24), they went from being the biggest buyers of specialty food in 2017 (79%) to the smallest in 2018 (66%). The report states it’s too early to know if this change is a pattern. Also, other findings show Gen Z’s interests are aligned with specialty food consumers. One possible explanation for the change in purchases is that Gen Z is more financially conservative than Millennials.
Gender differences
Men were much more likely in 2018 than in the past to be either the primary food shopper for their households or to have a participating role. Characteristics of men shoppers include:
Characteristics of women shoppers include:
Seven takeaways
The Specialty Food Association offers seven main takeaways from the report:
By Carol Wiley
Source: Food Industry Executive
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