Gitnux/Report 2026

Food Marketing Industry Statistics

The food retail media market is projected to reach $15.7 billion in 2026, explore the figures behind growth, companies and trends.
283Statistics
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12Sections
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Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

Gitnux editors write the brief first: the topic, the inclusion rules, and the frame for what belongs.

02Source Research

Agents search the published record and log every extracted figure back to the passage it came from.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 31 days

01 Industry overview

The food marketing industry at a glance

Food marketing is shifting toward retail media: food advertisers are projected to spend $15.7 billion across omni-channel retail media in 2026, up 19.1% from 2025.

$15.7B
Food retail media spend, 2026
$2.51T[50]
U.S. food spending, 2025
19.1%
Food retail media growth, 2026
41%[13]
Fresh share of food retail sales, 2025
Market size
The broad U.S. food market reached $2.51 trillion in inflation-adjusted consumer, business and government spending in 2025. Within food marketing specifically, the food category was projected to generate $15.7 billion in omni-channel retail media spend in 2026.[50]
Forecast & CAGR
Food omni-channel retail media spend was forecast to rise from $13.2 billion in 2025 to $15.7 billion in 2026, equivalent to 19.1% year-over-year growth. U.S. retail media overall was forecast to reach $74.40 billion in 2026 and $88.34 billion in 2027.[74]
Market share & regions
North America accounted for 35.3% of global retail media network revenue in 2025. In the U.S. food market, food-away-from-home spending represented 56.3% of total inflation-adjusted food expenditures in 2025.[75][50]
Segmentation
Food marketing spans omni-channel retail media, grocery retail media, digital advertising, in-store media, packaging and promotions. In the 2026 food retail media forecast, grocery-channel food spend was $5.8 billion, compared with $15.7 billion across the broader omni-channel food category.
Key players & concentration
Amazon was estimated to hold 82% of U.S. retail media share in 2025, while Walmart held 8%, Instacart 2% and Target 1%. The concentration gives large platforms a substantial advantage in first-party shopper data, audience reach and measurement.[76]
Pricing
Food retailers operated on thin margins: the average net profit for U.S. food retailers was 2.1% in 2025. Retail media is therefore attractive as a higher-margin revenue stream, although published sources reviewed did not provide a consistent industry-wide cost-per-click or cost-per-impression benchmark.[13]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Growth is being driven by retail media, first-party data, online grocery and functional-product positioning; retail media spending in the U.S. was forecast to grow 20% in 2025. Key challenges include fragmented measurement, retailer data silos and pressure on consumers from food-price inflation.[77][74][50]
Consumer behavior & competition
U.S. grocery e-commerce represented 8.9% of grocery item sales in 2025, while online supermarket transactions averaged $106 compared with $49.06 in-store. Consumers are also concentrating demand around fresh and functional categories: fresh departments generated 41% of food retail sales in 2025, and retail beverages reached nearly $295 billion.[13]
M&A
Food and beverage M&A activity remained significant in 2025: one industry review recorded 203 food transactions and 88 beverage transactions. Notable deals included Ferrero’s $3.1 billion acquisition of WK Kellogg and PepsiCo’s approximately $1.95 billion acquisition of Poppi.[78]
Regulation
Food marketers must comply with FDA rules requiring food claims to be truthful, not misleading and properly supported. The FDA updated its voluntary “healthy” labeling claim in December 2024 and set January 1, 2028, as the uniform compliance date for qualifying food-labeling regulations published during 2025 and 2026.[79]
Latest news
In February 2026, the FDA issued a letter stating that it intended to exercise enforcement discretion for certain voluntary “no artificial colors” labeling claims as the agency and industry worked to transition away from specified certified colors. The development increases the importance of substantiation and claim wording in food packaging and marketing.[79]

02 Ranking

Top 10 Companies in the Food Marketing Industry

The leading companies in the food marketing industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 11, 2026 · Next review December 11, 2026

Verdict

Mars stands out for snacking and food brand presence because it includes M&M'S and BEN'S ORIGINAL, while The Coca-Cola Company is the pick for non-alcoholic beverage systems since it operates in more than 200 countries and territories.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in snacking & packaged foods

    Mars

    US

    Ranked #1 · 9.3 · Snacking & packaged foods

    Why we picked it: It sells globally recognized snacking and food brands, including M&M'S and BEN'S ORIGINAL, within global snacking and food products.

    See in ranking ↓Visit mars.com ↗

  2. Leader in non-alcoholic beverages

    The Coca-Cola Company

    US

    Ranked #2 · 9.3 · Non-alcoholic beverages

    Why we picked it: It runs a global non-alcoholic beverage system across more than 200 countries and territories, with revenue growth of 1.9% and a 28.7% operating margin.

    See in ranking ↓Visit coca-colacompany.com ↗

  3. Leader in beverages & coffee

    Keurig Dr Pepper

    US

    Ranked #3 · 9.1 · Beverages & coffee

    Why we picked it: It markets North American beverages and coffee via more than 150 beverage and coffee brands, supported by 8.2% revenue growth and a 21.5% operating margin.

    See in ranking ↓Visit keurigdrpepper.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Picks 2 and 3 are the highest-ranked companies in the top 5 that add a new segment.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 10 companies in the food marketing industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

Mars

Snacking & packaged foods · US

9.3
2

The Coca-Cola Company

Non-alcoholic beverages · US

9.3
3

Keurig Dr Pepper

Beverages & coffee · US

9.1
4

Ferrero Group

Confectionery & sweet foods · IT

8.8
5

Nestlé

Food, beverage & nutrition · CH

8.7
6

JBS

Global meat and protein products · BR

8.7
7

PepsiCo

Global convenient foods and beverages · US

8.6
8

Danone

Dairy, plant-based, water and nutrition · FR

8.5
9

Tyson Foods

Global meat and prepared foods · US

8.5
10

General Mills

Global packaged food and pet food · US

8.0

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).
  • Performance (20%): recent revenue growth and operating margin; an analyst assessment where a company does not publish them.
  • Momentum (20%): growth trajectory and future potential.
  • Innovation (15%): R&D intensity and how technologically advanced the company is.

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 11, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Top 10 companies in the food marketing industry. In Food Marketing Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/food-marketing-industry-statistics/#top-companies

report visual · Comparison

Revenue of the largest food marketing companies

Nestlé leads with $101.1B in annual revenue (group level, converted to USD).

Nestlé$101.1B
PepsiCo$93.9B
JBS$86.2B
Tyson Foods$54.4B
The Coca-Cola Company$47.9B
Danone$29.5B
source-verifiednestle.com · pepsico.com · earnings-documents-prod.s3.amazonaws.com · tysonfoods.com · investors.coca-colacompany.com · danone.com2025

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

AI adoption is widespread: 80% of major brands used AI for marketing content creation in 2026, and 96% used generative or agentic AI in marketing in 2026.

AI in the food marketing industry

  • 80% of major brands used AI for marketing content creation in 2026 globally.[1]
  • 47% of U.S. food-and-beverage small businesses were already using AI in 2025.[2]
  • 94% of U.S. restaurants already using AI in marketing planned to expand usage in 2026.[2]
  • 81% of foodservice distributors ranked sales and customer service among their top AI priorities in 2024.[3]
  • 54% of major brands used AI for media buying and optimization in 2026 globally.[1]
  • 96% of major brands used generative or agentic AI in marketing in 2026 globally.[1]

Automation in the food marketing industry

  • 40% was the maximum efficiency improvement reported from automation by North American food and beverage companies in 2023.[4]
  • 41% of food companies were using real-time production-monitoring dashboards in 2025.[5]
  • 26% of food companies identified robotics systems as delivering the highest ROI in 2025.[5]
  • 43% of food companies allocated 26%–50% of equipment and systems investment to digital and automation projects in 2025.[5]
  • 12% was the maximum reduction in operational costs reported from automation by North American food and beverage companies in 2023.[4]
  • 37% of food companies identified automated warehouse management systems as delivering the highest ROI in 2025.[5]

Digital Transformation in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among U.S. advertising organizations, 87% relied on manual budget pacing in 2026, highlighting continued scope for advertising-workflow automation.[6]
  • Across 15 countries, 70% of organizations used generative AI to measure and track customer and marketing metrics in 2025.[7]
  • 57% of companies in the marketing sector were in the emerging stage of digital transformation in the U.S. in 2024, meaning new technology was not yet integrated into processes.[8]
  • Across 15 countries, 75% of organizations used generative AI for search-engine optimization in 2025.[7]
  • 44% of client-side marketing respondents said their companies were actively bringing more marketing functions in-house in 2024.[9]
  • Across 15 countries, 72% of organizations were using generative AI extensively or to a limited extent in their marketing departments in 2025.[7]

Technology Adoption in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 63% of multinational brand owners were already using generative AI in marketing in 2024, most commonly for content creation, ideation and task automation.[1]
  • 96% of major brands used AI in marketing in 2026, including 80% using it for content creation and 54% for media buying or optimization.[1]
  • 77% of marketers reported using AI in 2024, up from 57% in 2023, based on Digiday+ Research surveys.[10]
  • 83% of advertising executives said their companies had deployed AI in the creative process in 2026, up from 60% in 2024.[11]

Cloud Computing in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 52.74% of EU enterprises used paid cloud computing services in 2025.[12]
  • 72% of EU enterprises using cloud computing used it for office software in 2025, while another 72% used it for file storage.[12]
  • 85% of large EU businesses used paid cloud computing services in 2025, compared with 52% of small and medium-sized enterprises.[12]
  • 85% of EU enterprises using cloud computing used it to host email systems in 2025.[12]

Big Data in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 60% of enterprises in Denmark performed data analytics internally or externally in 2025, the highest share among EU countries.[12]
  • 25% of enterprises in Poland performed data analytics internally or externally in 2025, the lowest share among the EU countries reported.[12]
  • 40% of EU enterprises performed data analytics internally or through another organization in 2025.[12]
  • 33% of EU enterprises used data analytics performed by their own employees in 2025.[12]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Data quality and governance dominate measurement practicality, with 73% of marketers reporting at least 10% of lead data is inaccurate or outdated and 71% reporting a data-governance program in 2024.

Business intelligence in the food marketing industry

  • 51% of food retailers used data analytics for loss prevention in the 2026 U.S. food-retailing survey.[13]
  • 0.9% of U.S. food retailers’ total sales was allocated to technology budgets in 2023, exceeding $10 billion in aggregate.[13]
  • 41% of food retailers reported using artificial intelligence in 2023.[13]
  • 1.9% of U.S. food suppliers’ sales was allocated to technology investment in 2023.[13]
  • 85% of food retailers reported using data analytics in 2023.[13]
  • 94% of food suppliers reported using data analytics in 2023.[13]

Data analytics in the food marketing industry

  • 19% of food-manufacturing survey respondents said data analytics provided the most value in batch-quality deviation analysis.[5]
  • 25% of food-manufacturing survey respondents said data analytics provided the most value in automated inventory-reorder-point calculation.[5]
  • 25% of food-manufacturing survey respondents said data analytics provided the most value in energy-consumption pattern analysis and peak-usage alerts.[5]
  • 33% of food-manufacturing survey respondents said data analytics provided the most value in identifying production bottlenecks.[5]
  • 31% of food-manufacturing survey respondents said data analytics provided the most value in real-time production-line performance tracking.[5]
  • 21% of food-manufacturing survey respondents said data analytics provided the most value in equipment-failure prediction and prevention.[5]

Data Quality in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 30% of CMOs identify improving data quality as the biggest lever for improving marketing performance across surveyed marketing organizations in 2025.[14]
  • 73% of marketers say at least 10% of their lead data is inaccurate or outdated, based on a survey of more than 200 marketing operations and demand-generation professionals.[15]
  • 45% of CMOs estimate that the marketing data their teams use for decisions is incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated; the survey covered marketers across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 2025.[14]
  • 67% of marketing professionals report that poor data quality disrupts lead handoffs between marketing and sales.[15]
  • 31% of CMOs say data completeness is the biggest data-quality problem affecting their marketing organizations across the surveyed markets in 2025.[14]

Data Governance in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 92% of marketing decision-makers report investing in automated data-governance platforms, according to a survey of more than 200 marketing operations and demand-generation professionals.[15]
  • 58% of organizations with data-governance programs report improved data quality in 2024, based on a global survey of data and analytics professionals.[16]
  • 45% of respondents identify regulatory compliance as a goal of their data-governance program in 2024, in a global survey of data and analytics professionals.[16]
  • 71% of global respondents report that their organization has a data-governance program in 2024, up from 60% in 2023.[16]
  • 14% of organizations in the Dutch marketing sector report using data governance in 2024, down from 16% in 2022.[17]
  • 49% of advertising and data decision-makers at U.S. brands, agencies, and publishers are creating or planning dedicated teams or departments in response to privacy and data-governance requirements in 2024.[11]

KPIs in the food marketing industry

  • 6.5% was the reported U.S. food-industry out-of-stock rate in 2023, below the historical 8% rate.[13]
  • 85 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket score for convenience of store hours.[18]
  • 83 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket score for layout and cleanliness of stores.[18]
  • 83 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket score for quality of the mobile application.[18]
  • 82 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket score for merchandise availability and inventory stocks.[18]
  • 84 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket score for convenience of store location.[18]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Demand is concentrating around loyalty and digital grocers, with U.S. online supermarket transactions averaging $106 in 2025 versus $49.06 in-store.

Growth in the food marketing industry

  • 18% of U.S. consumers had worn a clothing item from a food brand in 2024.[19]
  • 29% of U.S. consumers said in 2024 that they would visit a pop-up restaurant or shop from a favorite food brand.[19]
  • 67% of U.S. digital grocery shoppers spent more with their preferred digital grocer in 2024 than in 2023.[20]

Differentiation in the food marketing industry

  • 53% of U.S. consumers said they were likely to try a brand recommended by their community in 2024.[21]
  • 51% of U.S. consumers said feeling part of a brand community was important to them in 2024.[21]

Mergers and acquisitions in the food marketing industry

  • $9 billion was the value of BlueTriton Brands’ acquisition of Primo Brands in 2024.[22]
  • $24.8 billion was the value of food and beverage M&A deals closed in the fourth quarter of 2024.[22]
  • $2.1 billion was the value of Performance Food Group’s acquisition of Cheney Brothers in 2024.[22]
  • $1.95 billion was the value of Butterfly Equity’s acquisition of The Duckhorn Portfolio in 2024.[22]
  • 412 food and beverage transactions were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024, including 104 transactions during the quarter itself in one industry review.[23]
  • 351 food and beverage M&A deals closed in the fourth quarter of 2024.[22]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Workforce churn remains a constraint, with a 6% share of restaurant operators reporting turnover above 76% in 2026 and 901,000 monthly job openings in 2024.

Hiring in the food marketing industry

  • 82% of U.S. restaurant and foodservice businesses were actively hiring in a 2024 survey.[24]
  • 901,000 monthly job openings averaged across the U.S. restaurants and accommodations sector in 2024.[25]
  • 47% of U.S. food-and-beverage managers cited recruitment, retention and training as primary challenges in a 2024 survey.[24]
  • 58% of U.S. manufacturers reported total employee headcount was continuing to expand in 2024.[26]
  • 77% of U.S. restaurant operators said recruiting and retaining employees was a significant business challenge in 2025.[25]

Employee retention in the food marketing industry

  • 39% of North American food-industry respondents reported year-over-year improvement in talent retention in 2024.[27]
  • 6% of restaurant operators reported turnover above 76% in 2026.[28]
  • 67 annual departures would result from applying a 135% turnover rate to a hypothetical limited-service restaurant with 50 employees.[8]
  • 122% was the foodservice industry turnover rate in 2025, according to National Restaurant Association analysis.[25]
  • 9% of restaurant operators reported turnover above 76% in mid-2024.[28]

Remote Work in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among U.S. marketing, advertising and public-relations office job postings, 12.2% were advertised as remote in 2024.[29]
  • Across management, marketing and sales respondents, 20% reported working fully remotely in the State of Sales and Marketing Report.[30]
  • Across marketing organizations, 55.6% reported working from home some of the time in Fall 2024, according to a U.S. CMO survey.[31]
  • Across marketing organizations, 37.8% reported working from home all the time in Fall 2024, according to a U.S. CMO survey.[31]

Hybrid Work in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among marketers, 68.7% said in 2024 that their current balance of office and home-working days was appropriate.[32]
  • Across advertising professionals, 64% preferred hybrid work over fully remote or fully on-site work in the 2024 Myers Report survey.[33]
  • Across advertising professionals, 74% reported working in hybrid situations in the 2024 Myers Report survey of 3,462 respondents.[33]
  • Across management, marketing and sales respondents, 57% said their employer offered a hybrid work option to at least some employees.[30]

Upskilling in the food marketing industry

  • 58% of food companies addressed skills gaps through internal training programs in 2025.[5]
  • 51% of U.S. adults said their first regular job was in the restaurant and foodservice industry in the latest National Restaurant Association survey.[34]
  • 27% of U.S. restaurant employees were enrolled in school in the latest National Restaurant Association demographic profile.[34]
  • 54.94% of restaurant operators used shoulder-to-shoulder training as their dominant training approach in 2026.[28]
  • 9 in 10 restaurant managers started in entry-level positions in the 2024 North Carolina restaurant industry report.[35]

Employee Engagement in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across the global workforce, 21% of employees were engaged in 2024, according to Gallup’s worldwide workplace measure.[36]
  • Across organizations with low-activation communications strategies, 23% reported increased employee engagement in Gallagher’s 2026 global survey.[37]
  • Across organizations with highly activated communications strategies, 40% reported increased employee engagement in Gallagher’s 2026 global survey.[37]
  • Across organizations surveyed globally, 32% reported an increase in employee engagement from their previous survey in Gallagher’s 2026 Employee Communications Report.[37]

DEI in the food marketing industry

  • 46% of U.S. restaurant and foodservice managers were minorities in 2024.[34]
  • 41% of U.S. restaurants were minority-owned in 2024.[35]
  • 62% of U.S. restaurant cooks were minorities in 2024.[34]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Customer behavior still favors switching friction, with 42% of restaurant customers churning in Upside transaction data covering March 2022 to February 2025.

Customer experience in the food marketing industry

  • 90 points was the 2024 full-service restaurant score for waitstaff courtesy and helpfulness in the United States.[18]
  • 73 points was the 2024 U.S. food-delivery customer-satisfaction score measured by ACSI.[18]
  • 84 points was the 2024 U.S. full-service restaurant customer-satisfaction score measured by ACSI.[18]
  • 79 points was the 2024 U.S. fast-food restaurant customer-satisfaction score measured by ACSI.[18]
  • 71% was the 2024 U.S. grocery-industry overall customer-experience rating in Qualtrics XM Institute research.[38]

Customer retention in the food marketing industry

  • 42% of restaurant customers in a given month churned in Upside transaction data covering March 2022 to February 2025.[39]
  • 50% of customers who joined a loyalty program churned within 12 months in Upside research.[39]
  • 46 percentage points more likely to remain after one year were regular grocery customers than new customers in Upside transaction data.[39]
  • 37% of U.S. adults ordered restaurant delivery at least weekly in the National Restaurant Association’s 2025 survey.[34]
  • 72% of a grocer’s revenue came from uncommitted customers in Upside’s 2025 analysis of 75 million transactions.[40]

Customer acquisition in the food marketing industry

  • 19% of surveyed food businesses cited Google as the best way to discover new restaurants in 2024.[41]
  • 17% of surveyed food businesses cited foot traffic as the best way to discover new restaurants in 2024.[41]
  • 24% of surveyed food businesses said word of mouth was their best way to discover new restaurants in 2024.[41]
  • 32% of surveyed U.S. diners checked restaurant websites before visiting or booking in 2024.[41]
  • 15% of surveyed food businesses cited social media as the best way to discover new restaurants in 2024.[41]

Customer loyalty in the food marketing industry

  • 41% of U.S. full-service restaurant customers said loyalty membership was important when choosing a restaurant in 2025.[25]
  • 52% of U.S. adults participated in a restaurant, coffee-shop, snack-place or deli loyalty program in 2024.[25]
  • 61% of U.S. delivery customers said loyalty-program membership was important when choosing a restaurant in 2025.[25]
  • 96% of U.S. restaurant-loyalty participants said membership was a good way to get more value in 2024.[25]
  • 74% of U.S. consumers belonged to a grocery loyalty program in Upside’s consumer research.[39]

Lead generation in the food marketing industry

  • 17% of surveyed food businesses identified foot traffic as their strongest new-restaurant discovery channel in 2024.[41]
  • 46% of U.S. diners checked Google Reviews for restaurant ratings in 2024, making it the leading measured online discovery source.[41]
  • 15% of surveyed food businesses identified social media as their strongest new-restaurant discovery channel in 2024.[41]
  • 9% of U.S. diners checked TripAdvisor for restaurant ratings in 2024.[41]
  • 23% of U.S. diners checked Yelp for restaurant ratings in 2024.[41]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Promotions and value messaging remain prominent in consumer choices, with 63% of diners preferring general promotions and offers over personalized ones in 2024.

Marketing in the food marketing industry

  • 70% was the reported maximum sales increase for a picture-worthy restaurant dish in 2024 food-industry research.[41]
  • 56% of surveyed food businesses planned to keep advertising spending unchanged in 2024.[41]
  • 63% of diners preferred general promotions and offers over personalized ones in 2024.[42]
  • 34% of surveyed food businesses planned to increase advertising spending in 2024.[41]
  • 73% of diners ordered from value menus more frequently in 2024, according to a restaurant-industry survey.[42]

Digital marketing in the food marketing industry

  • $169.70 was the average U.S. digital grocery basket size in 2024.[20]
  • 67% of shoppers spent more with their preferred digital grocer in 2024 than in 2023.[20]
  • 57% of U.S. adults had recently used mobile ordering for restaurant food in 2025.[34]
  • 14.2% of U.S. digital grocery sales went through third-party platforms in 2024.[20]
  • $126 billion was the value of U.S. digital grocery sales in 2024.[20]

Branding in the food marketing industry

  • 25% of consumers said food brands were launching too many marketing gimmicks in 2024.[19]
  • 28% of consumers agreed in 2024 that food brands could be more risqué or funny online.[19]
  • 64% of U.S. full-service restaurant customers said dining experience mattered more than meal price in 2025.[25]
  • 18% of consumers had worn clothing from a food brand in Datassential’s 2024 survey.[19]
  • 47% of U.S. limited-service restaurant customers said dining experience mattered more than meal price in 2025.[25]

Social media in the food marketing industry

  • 68% of U.S. adults who saw food or nutrition content on social media trusted it at least somewhat in 2024.[43]
  • 335 billion food and beverage advertising impressions were viewed by adults on social media between April 2020 and August 2021.[44]
  • 54% of U.S. adults had seen food or nutrition content on social media in the 2024 IFIC survey.[43]
  • 3.95% was the 2024 food-and-beverage engagement rate per TikTok video in Rival IQ’s benchmark report.[45]
  • 94.4 billion food advertising impressions were generated on Facebook between April 2020 and August 2021.[44]

Influencer Marketing in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • $37 billion in U.S. creator advertising spend is projected for 2025, growing four times faster than the broader media industry.[11]
  • 54% of multinational marketers expected influencer-marketing budgets to increase over the following 12 months in 2025, with average projected growth of 23%.[1]
  • Six in 10 multinational brands had dedicated influencer-marketing budgets globally in 2025, up from 37% in 2019.[1]
  • 74% of surveyed brands, agencies and creators reported year-over-year creator-marketing budget increases in the 2025 survey covering nine countries.[46]
  • 58% of global marketers reported dedicated and growing budgets for creator or influencer partnerships in Nielsen’s 2026 survey.[47]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Operational automation is still partial: in 2025, 14% of food and beverage companies had fully automated recipe or batch management and 13% had fully automated food-safety monitoring.

Process optimization in the food marketing industry

  • 14% of food and beverage companies had fully automated recipe or batch management in 2025, while 55% used mixed digital and manual processes.[5]
  • 22% of food and beverage companies had fully automated inventory management in 2025, and 48% used partly automated systems.[5]
  • 28% of food and beverage companies had fully automated production-line control in 2025, while 37% used mixed digital and manual processes.[5]
  • 21% of food and beverage companies had fully automated production scheduling in 2025, while 48% used partly automated systems.[5]
  • 44% of food and beverage manufacturers identified inventory management as their main operational bottleneck in 2025.[48]

Operational efficiency in the food marketing industry

  • 33% of U.S. supermarket transactions used self-checkout in 2025.[13]
  • 39% of food and beverage suppliers reported data-entry errors linked to outdated processes in 2024.[48]
  • 41% of food retailers used artificial intelligence in parts of their businesses in 2023, according to FMI’s 2024 industry survey.[13]
  • 81% of food retailers identified in-store technology experimentation as a top initiative in 2023.[13]
  • 32% of food and beverage suppliers reported miscommunication caused by outdated processes in 2024.[48]

Quality management in the food marketing industry

  • 13% of food and beverage companies had fully automated food-safety monitoring in 2025, while 48% used partly automated systems.[5]
  • 7.7% was the 2021–2022 revenue growth reported by food companies using quality-management systems, compared with 5.1% for nonusers.[48]
  • 38% of food manufacturers cited reducing food-safety incidents as an outcome of digital transformation in 2025.[5]
  • 18% of delayed CPG product launches in the latest survey involved quality-control or compliance problems.[49]
  • 11% of food and beverage companies had fully automated quality testing and documentation in 2025, while 39% used partly automated systems.[5]

Supply chain in the food marketing industry

  • Two-thirds of food retailers and 70% of food suppliers reported negative business impacts from supply-chain challenges in 2025.[13]
  • 88.2 cents of every U.S. food dollar went to post-farm marketing activities, including processing, transport, storage, wholesaling and retailing, in 2024.[50]
  • 33% of delayed CPG product launches were attributed to logistics and freight problems in the latest survey.[49]
  • Food processing accounted for 15.5 cents of the U.S. food dollar in 2024 under the industry-group accounting method.[50]
  • Food services accounted for 38.9 cents of the U.S. food dollar in 2024 under the industry-group accounting method.[50]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 67.5% of B2B brands outsourced work to an agency or third party during the previous 12 months in 2025, compared with 60.2% of B2C brands.[32]
  • 45% of marketing respondents outsourced design functions fully or partly in 2024, according to the Marketing Benchmark Survey.[51]
  • 63.1% of marketers outsourced work to an agency or third party during the previous 12 months in the 2025 survey, covering more than 3,500 respondents globally.[32]
  • 49% of marketing respondents outsourced digital content production fully or partly in 2024, according to the Marketing Benchmark Survey.[51]
  • 57% of marketing respondents outsourced video production fully or partly in 2024, the most commonly outsourced marketing function in the survey.[51]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Margins are thin and retail media fills the gap: the average net profit for U.S. food retailers was 2.1% in 2025.

Pricing strategy in the food marketing industry

  • 8.9% of U.S. grocery-item sales occurred online in 2025.[13]
  • 57% of food retailers increased locally sourced food offerings in 2023.[13]
  • 65% of food retailers expected inflation and economic challenges to change shopper behavior in 2023–2024.[13]
  • U.S. food-away-from-home spending increased 4.2% to $1.27 trillion in 2024.[50]
  • Online supermarket transactions averaged $106 in 2025, compared with $49.06 for in-store transactions.[13]

Cost reduction in the food marketing industry

  • 65% of food businesses surveyed reported that rising food costs affected net income in 2023.[52]
  • 32.4% of sales represented food and nonalcoholic-beverage costs for limited-service restaurants in 2024.[34]
  • 65% of surveyed food businesses expected food costs to continue rising in 2024.[52]
  • 5.7% was the average increase in food retailers’ health-care costs in 2025.[13]
  • Wholesale food prices decreased 5.7% from the beginning to the end of 2023.[52]

Profitability in the food marketing industry

  • 2.1% was the U.S. food-retail profit margin in 2025.[13]
  • 1.6% was the U.S. food-retail profit margin in 2023, down from 2.3% in 2022.[13]
  • 12.3% was the projected U.S. snack-food-production profit rate for 2025.[53]
  • 6.8% was the U.S. food-manufacturing operating margin in 2023.[54]
  • U.S. food-and-beverage retail operating profits rose 79% from $14 billion in 2019 to $25 billion in 2023.[54]

Financial planning in the food marketing industry

  • 13% of food retailers expected profits to increase in 2024.[13]
  • 45% of food and beverage brands cited reducing ingredient and manufacturing costs as a top innovation driver in 2025.[48]
  • 76% of food and beverage brands planned to increase new-product-development budgets in 2024.[48]
  • 40% of food retailers and 82% of food suppliers used organization-wide generative AI for operations, supply-chain logistics, workforce planning or marketing in 2026.[13]
  • 83% of food and beverage brands planned to increase new-product-development budgets in 2025.[48]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Product turnover is measurable across retail time windows, with 33% of new food products successful after 39 weeks on the market in the cited food-retail study.

Product development in the food marketing industry

  • 47% was the success rate for innovative or equity-transfer food products, compared with 28% for line extensions.[55]
  • 30% of sales came from products launched during the preceding two years among surveyed UK and German food companies.[56]
  • 28 food products were launched per company per year on average in a UK and German food-industry benchmark.[56]
  • 33% of new food products were successful after 39 weeks on the market in the cited food-retail study.[55]
  • 0.85% of sales was the average product-development cost among surveyed UK and German food companies.[56]

Product lifecycle in the food marketing industry

  • 20,000 new barcodes were encountered annually by the retailer in the cited food-product innovation study.[55]
  • 43% of sampled private-label food products were still successful two years after introduction.[57]
  • 28,160 food items were included in the underlying database used to study product introductions from 2010 to 2012.[57]
  • 42% of newly launched food products remained in distribution but were declining after 39 weeks in the cited food-retail study.[55]
  • 80–85% of an average U.S. family’s food needs were supplied by approximately 150 regularly purchased items.[55]

After-sales in the food marketing industry

  • 79 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket industry score for call-center satisfaction on the American Customer Satisfaction Index.[18]
  • 83 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket score for speed of pickup-order readiness.[18]
  • 83 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket score for food quality and freshness of meat and produce.[18]
  • 85 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket score for mobile-app reliability, including minimal downtime, crashes and lag.[18]
  • 83 was the 2026 U.S. supermarket score for accuracy of pickup-order fulfillment.[18]

Value proposition in the food marketing industry

  • 74% of U.S. consumers ranked product quality among their top three meanings of value for money in grocery retail.[58]
  • 23.0% of surveyed consumers selected nutritional value as a top-three food and beverage purchase influence in the United States.[5]
  • 80.6% of surveyed consumers selected price or value as a top-three food and beverage purchase influence in the United States.[5]
  • 29% of U.S. consumers ranked loyalty and rewards among their top three meanings of value for money in grocery retail.[58]
  • 29.6% of surveyed consumers selected safety and quality as a top-three food and beverage purchase influence in the United States.[5]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Sustainability reporting continues to expand in brand operations, and PepsiCo projects replenished 24 billion liters of water in 2024.

Sustainability in the food marketing industry

  • 24 billion liters of water were replenished by PepsiCo projects in 2024.[59]
  • 3.5 million acres used regenerative, restorative or protective agriculture practices by PepsiCo in 2024 globally.[59]
  • 77% of PepsiCo convenient-foods portfolio volume met its sodium target of no more than 1.3 milligrams per calorie in 2024.[59]
  • 100% of PepsiCo’s sugar was Bonsucro-certified in 2024.[59]
  • 89% of PepsiCo’s company-owned global electricity demand came from renewable sources in 2024.[59]

ESG in the food marketing industry

  • 83% of food and beverage companies in China by market capitalization reported sustainability information in the OECD’s 2024 dataset.[60]
  • 83% of food and beverage manufacturers surveyed globally had an ESG policy in place in 2024.[61]
  • More than 50% of food and beverage manufacturers surveyed had grounded ESG policies in concrete KPIs in 2024.[61]
  • 96% of U.S. food and beverage companies by market capitalization reported sustainability information in the OECD’s 2024 dataset.[60]
  • 75% of surveyed food and beverage manufacturers were leveraging tax credits to enable ESG implementation in 2024.[61]

Ethics in the food marketing industry

  • Nearly half of food and beverage items marketed digitally to U.S. children and adolescents came from companies participating in CFBAI in 2026 research.[62]
  • 214 lawsuits were filed against food and beverage companies in the United States in 2022, according to litigation tracking cited by AP.[63]
  • 101 lawsuits were filed against U.S. food and beverage companies during the first six months of 2023, according to litigation tracking cited by AP.[63]
  • 92% of food and beverage products marketed to U.S. children and adolescents through digital media were classified as unhealthy in 2026 research.[62]

CSR in the food marketing industry

  • 55 demonstration farms supported PepsiCo agriculture initiatives in 2024.[59]
  • 224,000 people in PepsiCo agriculture supply chains and supporting communities had benefited from livelihood initiatives by 2025.[59]
  • 39 countries used 100% renewable electricity for PepsiCo operations, including energy attribute certificates, in 2024.[59]
  • 96 million people had gained access to safe water through PepsiCo distribution, purification and conservation programs since 2006, as reported for 2024.[59]
  • 18% of PepsiCo suppliers had achieved Leader status on its sustainability ladder in 2024.[59]

Circular economy in the food marketing industry

  • 21.3% was Nestlé’s reduction in virgin plastic versus its 2018 baseline in 2024.[64]
  • 86.4% of Nestlé plastic packaging was designed for recycling in 2024.[64]
  • 12% of global food waste came from retail and other food distribution in 2022, according to UNEP.[65]
  • 28% of global food waste came from food services in 2022, according to UNEP.[65]

Carbon footprint in the food marketing industry

  • 125,000 metric tons per year was the expected Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions reduction from PepsiCo decarbonization projects completed between 2020 and 2023.[59]
  • 3.3 million metric tons was PepsiCo’s market-based Scope 1 emissions in 2024.[59]
  • 0.44 million metric tons per billion dollars of net revenue was PepsiCo’s market-based greenhouse-gas intensity in 2024.[59]
  • 24 million metric tons was PepsiCo’s Scope 3 energy-and-industry emissions in 2024.[59]
  • 41 million metric tons was PepsiCo’s total market-based greenhouse-gas emissions in 2024.[59]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Cross-border demand is visible through e-commerce scale, with China accounting for 48% of global food and grocery e-commerce in 2024.

Globalization in the food marketing industry

  • 82% of the world’s population is covered by NIQ operations across more than 90 countries, representing over $7.4 trillion in global consumer spending in 2026.[13]
  • China accounted for 48% of global food and grocery e-commerce in 2024.[71]
  • $863.1 billion was the global food and grocery e-commerce market in 2024, after growing 11% year over year.[71]

Cultural adaptation in the food marketing industry

  • 54% of U.S. consumers prefer ordering globally inspired food from a specialist restaurant rather than a generalist restaurant in 2026.[72]
  • 34% of Gen Z consumers in the United States order globally inspired dishes weekly or more in 2026.[72]
  • 59% of U.S. consumers prefer globally inspired dishes that remain faithful to their cultural origins rather than Americanized versions in 2026.[72]
  • 4% of U.S. Baby Boomers order globally inspired dishes weekly or more in 2026.[72]
  • 64% of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander consumers said they would stop buying from brands that devalue their identity group in 2024.[63]

Distribution channels in the food marketing industry

  • 77% of U.S. digital grocery shoppers who used third-party platforms in 2024 rated Instacart as their platform of choice.[20]
  • $46.9 billion was U.S. small-local-grocer sales in 2023.[73]
  • $686.2 billion was U.S. supermarket sales in 2023.[73]
  • 13.4% of U.S. grocery sales were digital in 2024, totaling $126 billion.[20]
  • $107.8 billion was U.S. food, drink and tobacco specialist-retailer sales in 2023.[73]

Key questions about the food marketing industry

What is the U.S. market size relevant to food marketing in 2025?
The broad U.S. food market reached $2.51T in inflation-adjusted consumer, business and government spending in 2025.
How fast is food retail media spend growing in 2026?
Food advertisers are projected to spend $15.7B across omni-channel retail media in 2026, up 19.1% from 2025.
Which companies lead the food marketing industry?
Mars stands out for snacking and food brand presence because it includes M&M'S and BEN'S ORIGINAL, while The Coca-Cola Company is the pick for non-alcoholic beverage systems since it operates in more than 200 countries and territories.
What technology shift is most visible in food marketing content and media buying?
In 2026 globally, 80% of major brands used AI for marketing content creation and 54% used AI for media buying and optimization, with 96% using generative or agentic AI in marketing.
How concentrated is U.S. retail media network revenue among major platforms in 2025?
Amazon was estimated to hold 82% of U.S. retail media share in 2025, while Walmart held 8%, Instacart 2% and Target 1%.
Which compliance dates matter for food marketing claims through 2026?
The FDA updated its voluntary “healthy” labeling claim in December 2024 and set January 1, 2028, as the uniform compliance date for qualifying food-labeling regulations published during 2025 and 2026.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Food Marketing Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/food-marketing-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Food Marketing Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 11 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/food-marketing-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Food Marketing Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/food-marketing-industry-statistics.

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