Food Industry Operators See Growth in 2024, FLIP Report Shows
The Food Liability Insurance Program, a national insurance program designed for small- to mid-sized operators in the food industry, released its inaugural “Food Industry Economic and Trend Outlook Report,” which includes proprietary statistics on insurance trends in the category, survey results from operators insured by FLIP, and general economic statistics on the category as a whole.
The report includes a marketwide analysis of out-of-home food businesses, excluding restaurants and grocers, and segment-specific insights of bakers, mobile bartenders, caterers, event-based businesses such as food truck and farmers market vendors, personal chefs and home (cottage) food businesses.
“We look to not only be an insurance vendor to our customers but a partner in their success,” said Daryle Stafford, CEO of Veracity Insurance, FLIP’s parent company. “As such, we decided to compile this report in the hopes that our insured will find the information valuable in planning and benchmarking their business against industrywide and segmented trends as they look to grow.
“Some inspiring notes from our findings include that 64 percent of our client operators believe their businesses will grow in 2024 and that consumers are spending more on out-of-home food than ever before (a 6 percent increase YoY). We look forward to continuing to provide actionable content for our customers in the months ahead aligning with our commitment of being a true partner in their businesses.”
FLIP statistical highlights from the report include:
- An analysis of insurance claims processed in 2023 compared to 2022 shows an increase of 2.3 percent. The most prevalent claim type in 2023 was an auto or trailer incident, which represented 28 percent of all claims. The following three claim types were accident-causing third-party damage (18 percent), theft (13 percent) and equipment failure of food spoilage (13 percent) respectively.
- The average payout for all claims filed was $4,632.
- California, Texas and Florida represented the highest concentrations of claims throughout the United States.
Food business owners felt the impact of higher food costs in 2023, with 65 percent of those surveyed indicating rising costs impacted their net income, although data suggests that from the beginning of 2023 to the end, wholesale food prices decreased 5.7 percent. Less than 3 percent of FLIP operators surveyed believe costs will continue to go down.
- Operators are planning to continue to raise prices in 2024, with 91 percent reporting they believe ticket sizes will go up in 2024.
- Operators are still relying on cash as 69 percent indicated they do not plan on going cashless in 2024, with 30 percent planning to do so.
- 56 percent of food operators plan to spend similar amounts on marketing in 2024 as they did in 2023, with 34 percent planning to increase their spend.
Overall, each category analyzed is growing in market size YoY with food trucks being the most (9.9 percent), followed by caterers (7.7 percent), farmers market vendors (7 percent), home-based (cottage) food businesses (4.2 percent), mobile bartenders (3 percent), bakers (2.4 percent) and personal chefs (2.4 percent).
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Tree Top Renews With NASCAR’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kroger Racing
Tree Top, a farmer-owned, farmer-grown brand and leading producer of high-quality fruit-based products, including apple sauces and juices, has renewed its partnership with 2023 Daytona 500 Champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the Kroger Racing team for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. Tree Top will be featured as the co-primary sponsor of Stenhouse’s No. 47 Camaro ZL1 at the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday, March 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
This is the second consecutive year that Tree Top has teamed up with the Kroger Racing team and Stenhouse. As part of the season-long partnership, Tree Top’s apple sauce and apple juice will be displayed on the No. 47 Camaro ZL1. The collaboration also connects Tree Top with consumers through in-store activations and product displays at Kroger retail locations and brand integrations across digital and social media.
“As a strategic partner in the Kroger Racing program, Tree Top continues to heighten its presence through promotions and consumer activations across various Kroger divisions in core race markets,” said Brad Olsen, vice president of marketing, Tree Top. “This partnership helps foster deeper connections with brand-loyal consumers nationwide as we also sponsor the No. 47 Camaro and 2023 DAYTONA 500 Champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. We’re excited to continue the sweetness of success both on and off the track, online and in-store during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season to ultimately boost sales of our Tree Top feel-good flavors. We’ll see you at the races!”
Live coverage of the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 3 begins at 12:30 p.m. PT (3:30 p.m. ET) and airs on FOX, MRN Radio Network and SiriusXM Satellite NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
Tree Top is a farmer-owned, farmer-grown cooperative owned by apple and pear growers. The cooperative was founded in 1960 in the heart of Washington’s apple country.
Tree Top has led the way in premium-quality juices and apple sauce. With their fruit expertise and trusted sources of fruit, they now produce the widest array of fruit-based products and solutions for consumers and for most of the world’s leading food and beverage manufacturers. Tree Top operates six production facilities near the fruit in Washington, Oregon and California to create healthful fruit products made from simple ingredients to the delight of consumers around the world. To learn more, please visit TreeTop.com.
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FDA Bans Sale of PFAS in Food Packaging Materials
Grease-proofing materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are no longer being sold for use in food packaging in the United States, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This means the major source of dietary exposure to PFAS from food packaging like fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, take-out paperboard containers and pet food bags is being eliminated.
PFAS are a diverse group of thousands of chemicals that resist grease, oil, water and heat. The FDA has authorized certain PFAS for limited use in cookware, food packaging and food processing equipment. Exposure to some types of PFAS have been linked to serious health effects. The FDA helps to safeguard the food supply by evaluating the use of chemicals as food ingredients and substances that come into contact with food, such as through food packaging, storage or other handling to ensure these uses are safe.
The announcement marks the fulfillment of a voluntary commitment by manufacturers to not sell food contact substances containing certain PFAS intended for use as grease-proofing agents in the U.S. This FDA-led effort represents a positive step forward as we continue to reevaluate chemicals authorized for use with, and in, food. It underscores an important milestone in the protection of U.S. consumers from potentially harmful food-contact chemicals.
This “win” for public health is the result of FDA research and leadership, combined with cooperation from industry. In 2020, the FDA engaged companies to cease sales of grease-proofing substances that contain certain types of PFAS following our post-market safety assessment. The research FDA scientists conducted and published played a large part in helping the agency obtain commitments from manufactures to voluntarily phase out the use of these substances containing PFAS in paper and paperboard food packaging products.
Assessing progress of these efforts takes time. Various parts of the industry are implementing changes and there are lags in data reporting. However, we are encouraged that through collaboration and a shared interest in the health and welfare of the public, together with industry we can achieve positive health outcomes.
The FDA will continue to conduct research and update our evaluations using the most up-to-date science to ensure that our risk determinations continue to be accurate and based on current science. Where appropriate, we will take the steps necessary to protect the health of U.S. consumers as part of our commitment to food chemical safety.
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