Food Away From Home: A Larger Slice of the Pizza Pie

“With milk production staying within a narrow range of little change, demand for dairy products is the main driver for price changes. Levels of consumer spending on food at home compared with spending on food away from home have implications for dairy markets because people consume more dairy products when dining out or ordering takeout than when they prepare their own food,” wrote Ben Laine, Terrain senior dairy sector analyst, in an article published in the November 16, 2023, issue of Hoard’s Dairyman Intel.

He continued, “Looking ahead to 2024, the USDA predicts that overall food prices will increase 2.1%. That’s slightly below the long-term average but comes in the wake of a couple of high-inflation years. Prices for food prepared at home are expected to increase by only 1% while the price of food away from home is predicted to increase by 4.4%. Even if the amount of food in each channel holds steady, the trend of a greater share of spending devoted to food away from home is likely to continue.”

Read the rest of the article on the Hoard’s website.