Resilient foodservice

Kinda sorta more of the same in the commodity markets during the last week with beef generally firm, chicken prices firming but not as much as anticipated, grains elevated and egg prices declining Tom Petty style ("Free Fallin"). But then there is coffee which jumped like Mike last week.

Important to note that above are the monthly average prices for January so doesn't give the recent strength in coffee futures it's due. For those keeping score, the nearby Arabica coffee futures market rose 8 percent last week followed by further increases this week. Subscribers know that the coffee supplies remain vulnerable and wouldn't you know it, crop concerns in Brazil are percolating again.

The foodservice industry has been percolating post pandemic for sure with 2022 total U.S. sales estimated to be 32 (think the late great Franco Harris) percent better than 2019...pre pandemic. To put that into perspective, and you know I love to do so, from 2010 through 2019 the average three year gain in U.S. foodservice sales was just short of 18 percent. So one could make the argument that the pandemic helped the industry albeit there was a lot of pain in the process.

Also nice to know that the share of total retail sales going to foodservice continues to build. In other words, consumers are spending more of their retail dollars in foodservice. In December, over 13 percent of total retail sales was directed at foodservice...a record. And as the chart shows, this is a longer term trend. Remember the pandemic when the industry was supposed to die? Let's call ourselves blessed to be part of one of the most resilient industries on the planet. Feel free to direct message me for more information on the data and markets. Thanks for reading.