USDA?s Economic Research Service?s Food Expenditure Series shows consumer spending preferences are changing. Danny Munch, American Farm Bureau Federation Economist, said that, most notably, food away from home spending has exceeded food at home spending.
?Spending away from home surpassed food at home spending by over 300 million last year, the largest gap ever. The biggest categories there are full-service restaurants at about 34 percent of spending away from home and quick service restaurants at about 34 percent of food away from home. Food sold at merchandise stores and vending machines have gone up with the largest increase for food spending away from home.?
Munch said there are many ways consumers are changing how they purchase food.
?Traditionally, grocery stores consistently captured the largest market share of what people were purchasing to eat at home. That percentage has gone down significantly. So, for instance, in 1999, grocery stores accounted for 72 percent of all at-home expenditures. Last year that had dropped down over the course of 25 years to 50 percent of at home spending. Much of that decline was because of the growth of warehouse clubs and super centers and home delivery.?
Munch said there are regional differences in the data as well.
?So, for instance, in rural Northeast states like New Hampshire and Maine, food costs on average are already higher than the rest of the country, but because they have such higher rural populations folks eat at home more often, so they spend more money on food at home. Versus places like Hawaii, Nevada, which has Las Vegas and Florida where there’s much more tourism happening, and people spend a lot more money away from home. And it’s important for farmers to be aware of these changes because it influences how their products are ultimately sold.?
For more information, visit fb.org.
