Our subscribing foodservice operators and dealers weigh in on the industry's performance this year and offer an early look at the industry's business climate in 2013.
Looking ahead to 2013, members of the foodservice industry prepare to experience another period of moderate but real growth as operators will rely more heavily on technology and on their supply chain partners to drive their incremental success.
FE&S explores the impact of rising food and gas prices among other challenges facing the foodservice industry as it tries to emerge from economic doldrums.
Only 24 percent of dealers reported that 2010 failed to meet their expectations for sales, according to FE&S' 2011 Dealer Forecast Study. And 76 percent report that their 2010 sales will increase or at least stay the same as 2009 levels.
The good news is that the foodservice industry seems poised to grow. The bad news is that the foodservice industry will move forward at an excruciatingly slow pace.
As foodservice companies begin their 2010 planning, two questions are top of mind: Has the 2009 economic mudslide been as severe as many foodservice professionals projected? More importantly, is it finally over?
What a difference a year makes. According to the National Restaurant Association, one year ago, only 9 percent of its members rated the economy as their top business challenge. Today, 40 percent of the NRA members surveyed said the economy is their top concern.
“You can see how dramatically the landscape has changed,” says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research and information services for the National Restaurant Association.
Indeed the foodservice equipment and supplies industry landscape has changed considerably in just 12 months. A year ago, the industries experiencing the greatest pain were those tied to the financial and housing markets and economists were debating whether the U.S. economy had entered a recessionary period. Now it’s widely accepted that the economy’s in a recession, one that promises to be deeper and wider than any the United States has experienced in the past 50 years.
