Specialty Food Sales Up 7.4% to $175 Billion in 2021

The specialty food items industry strike $175 billion in 2021, an uptick of 7.4% from 2020, according to the latest Point out of the Specialty Foods Sector Report from the Specialty Food stuff Affiliation.

Significantly of the advancement was due to inflation — for case in point, the specialty retail sector grew 4.3% in greenback product sales, but only .6% in device volume gross sales. The report notes that “stay-at-home mandates and food preparation drove advancement in numerous classes in 2020, leaving not only tiny place for ongoing development, but many falloffs in 2021 as people ventured extra out of the residence.” Development is predicted to keep on this yr, but at a slower charge.

Specialty meals produced up 21.9% of all food and beverage income in retail last 12 months, typically middle-store, shelf stable grocery products and solutions. On the other hand, though this classification grew 3.2% in greenback revenue, unit profits diminished .7% when compared to 2020. Refrigerated food items were the swiftest-increasing, with dollar product sales up 7.7% and unit gross sales up 4.2%.

The plant-centered specialty retail current market looked relatively diverse in 2021 than in 2020. Although plant-primarily based specialty solutions grew a lot quicker than the specialty retail market as a full, some plant-based types grew at a considerably slower price. The “largest growth gap” was for refrigerated plant-centered meat solutions, which grew only 34% in specialty when compared to 66% in the total marketplace. The report notes that prior to a few a long time ago, the plant-dependent choice meat classification was 97% specialty solutions, but now non-specialty goods make up much of the category growth.

The specialty beverages industry is also modifying. In 2021, specialty beverages grew two times as speedy as food items, which was a reversal from the earlier year when food stuff grew 21% and beverages only 16%. This jibes with IRI’s recently introduced New Item Pacesetters report, where by beverages reached report illustration.

Likely ahead, the report notes that expansion will depend on both of those supply chain bandwidth and how properly makers can adapt. In addition, specialty food stuff shoppers are on the lookout for goods with smaller sized footprints, perishables, and goods from BIPOC- and females-owned models.