Food industry trends and developments

The need to anticipate the state of the market for the next few decades calls for excellent judgement rather than clairvoyance (although that would help too) and an ability to read the signs of the times. The buzz has already gone round that we are heading for a post industrial revolution, and even the tabloids have to take the threat of an energy crisis seriously now. So where does this leave the retailer and his diminishing returns? In this paper we turn to the experience of the Americans. They too are learning to live with recession, and it seems that some people are even making a fast buck out of it — how fast, in terms of how long these new retail operations will last, is another question brought into play. But certainly, the analysis of a faltering economy and the changing face of the consumer are of great interest. This paper was presented at the CIES Congress in Montreal.