Chicago-based Technomic Inc. announced that its new 2016/17 U.S. Food Industry Universe analysis will provide coverage of all channels within the $1.74 trillion U.S. food industry, including retail grocery and foodservice. Leveraging proprietary research paired with years of in-house expertise, the analysis details the entire food industry landscape to identify growth channels and to understand where opportunities exist.

“We are delighted to be able to provide industry participants with comprehensive statistics and projections on the total food industry,” said Bob Goldin, vice chairman of Technomic, in a statement. “Our forecast provides meaningful insights into industry dynamics and growth opportunities and shows that industry growth drivers are evolving.”

The following are key takeaways and opportunities from Technomic’s analysis:

·         At 4.8 percent growth in 2017, foodservice will outpace retail, which is projected to grow at 3 percent. Foodservice will account for 60 percent of industry growth.

·         Within retail, supermarkets and supercenters will continue to lose share to“nontraditional” channels.”

·         The five fastest-growing food industry channels are online (up 19.8 percent in 2017), fresh format (up 9.1 percent), supermarket freshly prepared foods (up 8.9 percent), limited-assortment stores (up 6 percent) and independent restaurants/small chains (up 5.6 percent). They will contribute 43 percent of the industry growth.