As the recession took hold in 2008-2010, the retail food and drink industry’s growth trajectory slowed down considerably, with few exceptions. Remarkably, this was true even in sectors that once seemed impenetrable. As a result, industry observers have grown accustomed to viewing graphs with the now-familiar dip in growth rates during this time period. Meanwhile, sales forecasts--in terms of where markets will go in the next five years--are all over the map. Simply put, it is very hard to know how categories will come out of the recession, or if they will ever reach pre-recession benchmarks.
The ultimate cause for this uncertainty centers on overall market factors. Thanks to temporary and longer-term shifts in consumer behavior due to the recession, as well as rising food and fuel costs, an aging population and other factors, markets may perform very differently in the coming years. They may, in fact, be undergoing pivotal changes right now