2023 OUTLOOK FOR THE FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY Are you feeling hopeful for the new year? As many of us have left the pandemic behind in 2022 and begun traveling again, airlines have begun seeing profits. Some tourist destinations also recorded the highest-ever RevPAR (revenue per available room, a key hotel performance indicator). The foodservice industry is
Publisher & Editor Eddie Daniels Executive Assistant Caren Franklin Contributing Writers Kimberly Brock Brown, CEPC, CCA, AAC Eleni Finkelstein Linchi Kwok, Ph.D. Lady Latte Veronica McLymont, Ph.D., RDN, CDN Beth Torin, RD, MA ZeeTheCook Jeanine Banks Michael Warren Polansky
recovering too. According to National Restaurant Association’s forecast in January 2022, the foodservice industry would make $898 billion in sales for the year, exceeding $864 billion in 2019. Entering 2023, will restaurant sales continue to grow? Or, will high inflation and uncertainty of the economic outlook negatively affect sales in the foodservice industry? Regardless of where we stand, the
LINCHI KWOCK
foodservice industry must overcome many big operational challenges to thrive in 2023. To start off, let’s visit food and labor costs, the two costliest items on the balance sheet. Food prices are unlikely to fall General inflation is easing, but not for most essential food items (Han, 2023). On average, consumers were paying $4.25 for a carton of Grade A large eggs in December 2022, a jump from $1.79 a year ago. An outbreak of bird flu, high inflation, and cage-free-egg laws imposed by some states might be the reasons. Average butter prices went from $3.47 a pound a year ago to $4.81. Margarine, usually used as a substitute for butter, also saw a 43.8% year-to-year increase in December 2022. Moreover, the global food supplies in grain, oilseed, corn, wheat, and soybeans are projected to decline for the fifth consecutive year in 2023. It is unlikely for the industry to get a break from the rising food cost in the new year. Labor shortage is not as bad but with a price Restaurants workers were finally returning in December 2022 (Haddon & Weber, 2022). Higher wages, better working conditions, and a weakening labor market (i.e., more layoffs in the financial and tech continued on page 58
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