With the country facing an uncertain economic outlook, it can be difficult for specialty food businesses to decide where and how to invest their time and efforts.
SFA asked industry stakeholders what aspects of their business they are putting more resources into as part of its State of the Specialty Food Industry + 10-Year Category Tracking and Forecasts, 2023-2024 edition. You can view full video interviews by purchasing this year’s report.
Their advice is as follows:
• “Our financial investments are going into the brand and our imagery … The customer is online. While we’re focused on brick-and-mortar, we also have to be focused on the way they find us, and that’s on Google, Facebook, and TikTok.” – Mandy Wynn, proprietor of BKLYN Larder
• “We’re investing in more promotions than ever before so we can maintain our value-based customers … and offer them something to keep coming back for.” – Brittany Hartwell, store director, Palace Market
• “I’m always hopeful for foodservice. It’s more than half of consumer spend. We will continue to want to go out to eat …The ability of specialty and premium ingredients and brands to sell into the channel has not diminished.” – Stephanie Lind, founder of Elohi Strategic Advisors
• “The fundamentals of our business have never been better even though we lost two-thirds of our distribution, we didn’t lose that time. We used it to build our pipeline, better understand our ecommerce, and apply a strategy of how we can form more partnerships with real retail partners … [We see an opportunity to present] some new products coming forward to fill the imagination and delight our customers.” – Scott Kucirek, CEO, OCHO Candy
Related: Webinar Q&A: Pitching to Buyers, Press; Fueling a Business Through Education