Specialty Food Magazine

The Specialty Food Industry at a Glance $250,000 $200,000 $150,000 $100,000 $50,000 $0 *Includes Conventional and Natural and Specialty stores, while including an estimate for other smaller specialty retailers not part of the SPINS retail sample. Also includes an estimate for ecommerce sales through these outlets. **Includes random weight, non-UPC'd specialty items sold in a supermarket's bakery, cheese, deli, meat, and seafood sections (but excludes fresh produce and any private labels). ***Sales estimates from WFM and Trader Joe's (including all food and beverages and private label, but excluding perishables and non-food) estimated by the SFA. ^^Foodservice channel estimated by the SFA Source: SPINS/SFA Foodservice^^ WFM and Trader Joe's*** PLU sales** Specialty food tracked sales* $177,617 2021 $30,000 $25,465 $32,439 $89,713 $33,600 $28,648 $35,115 $97,117 $37,400 $30,414 $36,900 $102,074 $40,920 $32,659 $38,784 $106,983 $43,740 $34,851 $40,701 $112,016 $194,480 $206,788 $219,346 $231,308 7.3% 9.5% 6.3% 6.1% 5.5% 2022 2023 2024f 2025f Segments Across All Key 2021-2025 Specialty Food and Sales Beverage (Millions) Specialty Food Market The Size of the Part of the record-high sales can be attributed to food price inflation. While dollar sales in retail grocery (including grocery tracked sales, PLU, and Whole Foods/Trader Joe's) rose 5.4 percent, unit sales in the channel fell 1.9 percent, marking the second consecutive annual decline in unit sales in the channel. Specialty foods got a lift, however, in the foodservice channel with sales in the specialty segment climbing 11.3 percent. Delivery and ecommerce also continue to be a highly competitive part of the industry. Although consumers traded down from delivery to less expensive click-and-collect, specialty ecommerce reached 8.2 percent share of total sales, up from 6.5 percent in 2020. Ecommerce sales in 2023 were up 6.6 percent compared to 15.2 percent the prior year. In addition to measuring the specialty retail sales market, the research includes estimated sales for other key segments including specialty foodservice; specialty perishables (random weight, non-UPC'd items sold in a supermarket's bakery, cheese, deli, meat, and seafood sections, but excluding fresh produce and private labels); and specialty ecommerce (both items sold through brick-and-mortar retailers for delivery or pick-up and "pure-play" e-tailers like Amazon, Thrive Market, and Hive Brands). Total growth in specialty has been steady from the pandemic years through to today, despite fluctuations in the foodservice market. Foodser- vice has now recovered and led the total market for the past two years. The report forecasts that the much smaller foodservice trade will lead specialty sales at the expense of grocery retail over the next two years. Specialty perishables have lost a small amount of market share since 2021 and are expected to perform near the overall market in 2024 and 2025. The report's estimates for Whole Foods and Trader Joe's shows this group bottomed in 2021 and has gained share in the industry since then. Trader Joe's has been steadily performing at or above the industry the whole time, while Whole Foods has pulled out of a multi-year slump. Expect this duo to gain a modest amount of share in 2024 and 2025. Specialty food sales across retail, foodservice, and ecommerce grew 6.5 percent to a whopping $206.8 billion in 2023, show the findings of SFA's State of the Specialty Food Industry research. 42 SPECIALTY FOOD SPECIALTYFOOD.COM

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