Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1521971
What Is Selling Now - Dollar Sales The Top 10 food categories, ranked by 2023 dollar sales, make up nearly half of all specialty sales. Specialty Food Categories Top 10 by 2023 Dollar Sales Source: SPINS/SFA 3 1 2 6 6 3 4 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 10 2 3 4 4 1 2 9 9 11 11 Bread and baked goods Water Cheese and plant-based cheese Meat, poultry, seafood (Rf) Chips, pretzels, snacks Co•ee and hot cocoa (non-RTD) Entrées, snacks & sides (Rf) Chocolate and other confectionery Ice cream & novelties (Fz) Condiments, dressings, marinades Fastest Growing Sizable Subcategories* Top 10 in 2023 1 1 Flours (Ss) 20.9% 19.7% 18.8% 13.7% 13.7% 13.2% 12.3% 12.2% 11.7% 11.2% 0 5 10 15 20 25 Sparkling water Frozen Novelties Tortilla & corn chips Pasta sauce (Ss) Spices & seasonings (shelf stable) Fruit (Ss) Refrigerated beef (fresh) Rice & grains dry plain (Ss) Plant-based creams & creamers *This list includes only the top 10 fastest-growing subcategories with at least $500 million in sales in 2023. Does not include retailers' private label sales, specialty food perishables (PLU or random-weight specialty items sold in a supermarket's bakery, cheese, deli, meat, and seafood sections) or sales through online or foodservice channels. Judging by the biggest performers, Americans are driven by snacks and treats. The two halves of treats are snacks and indulgences, and at least half of the top 10 fit into one or both of those definitions: Chips, pretzels, snacks; Cheese and plant-based cheese; the snacks portion of Entrées, snacks & sides; Chocolate and other confectionery; and Ice cream & novelties. The other leaders are household staples, including Bread and baked goods; Co•ee and hot cocoa (non-RTD); Meat, poultry, seafood (refrigerated); and water. Notable movement came from the two refrigerated categories on the list. These were the results of category realignments that Circana/SPINS executed. Meat, poultry, seafood (Rf, Fz) was split into two parts and the frozen version is #23 on the top categories list. Similarly, Entrées, snacks & sides (Rf) gained refrigerated snack cups, dips, a few meat items, pizza, and pasta, causing it to jump from #6 to #3. Plant-based cream & creamers is by far the strongest plant-based subcategory in specialty food. The plant-based version performed stronger than dairy in 2021-2023, to the point that total sales are now higher than dairy. When it comes to the 10 fastest-growing size- able subcategories for 2023, which includes items whose sales exceeded $500 million annually, shelf stable flour leads the list. Many items in the ingredient group which includes cooking-at-home essentials had a strong 2022 and 2023, even without the quarantine-driven home cooking surge. In addition, flours had strong unit growth (not shown). All the subcategories in the Chips, pretzels & snacks category are expanding with the largest, Tortilla & corn chips, leading all the rest in both 2023 and 2021-2023, to the point that total sales are now higher than dairy. Tortilla chips had strong unit growth, popcorn slight unit growth, with chips and pretzels having small declines. SUMMER 2024 45