Industry Insights

Grilling season is in full swing, and with it, opportunities for boosting beef and grocery sales throughout your store. This year’s grilling season was off to a slow start in May, which IRi speculates could be due to continued COVID-19 outbreaks and inflation.

Strip steak. Sirloin. Chuck roll. Flank steak. Natural Angus. USDA Prime or Choice. If you’re a beef retailer or grocer, you probably see these terms every day—and you probably know them in and out. But your shoppers might not, despite their gravitation toward the meat case.

The New Year is almost here, and for food service, 2022 is looking promising—some 70% of consumers feel comfortable returning to restaurants, and trips to restaurants were up 7% as of October 2021[1]. According to Intouch Insight’s latest Changes in Consumer Habits report,

The holidays are upon us, and before we know it, we’ll be ringing in the new year. With any new year comes resolutions, among the most common healthy eating and New Year’s resolution diets. Last year around this time, we saw an even greater interest in healthy eating than usual as consumers came off the heels of quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the past two years have presented no shortage of new challenges for the food supply chain, one consistent challenge remains: reducing food waste. Before the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated 30%-40% of the food supply goes to waste[1]. 

With the simplicity and profitability that menu redesign can bring, the restaurant industry’s trend toward smaller menus has been on the rise for some time now. Smaller menus can create efficiencies in preparation, lower labor costs, and eliminate “choice paralysis,”