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• v.15(Suppl 1); 2021 Dec

Food service industry in the era of COVID-19: trends and research implications

1 School of Hospitality Management, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802, USA.

2 Department of Food and Nutrition, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new type of respiratory disease that has been announced as a pandemic. The COVID-19 outbreak has changed the way we live. It has also changed the food service industry. This study aimed to identify trends in the food and food service industry after the COVID-19 outbreak and suggest research themes induced by industry trends. This study investigated the industry and academic information on the food and food service industry and societal trends resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. The most noticeable changes in the food industry include the explosive increase in home meal replacement, meal-kit consumption, online orders, take-out, and drive-through. The adoption of technologies, including robots and artificial intelligence, has also been noted. Such industry trends are discussed in this paper from a research perspective, including consumer, employee, and organizational strategy perspectives. This study reviews the changes in the food service industry after COVID-19 and the implications that these changes have rendered to academia. The paper concludes with future expectations that would come in the era of COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) captured public attention as a new type of respiratory disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020 [ 1 ]. Although most people heard “corona virus” for the first time, humans have experienced seven types of coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2015. COVID-19, like SARS and MERS, is a respiratory disease with similar symptoms. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, is genetically 80% similar to SARS-CoV, the virus that causes SARS [ 2 ]. The viruses for COVID-19, SARS, and MERS are stable and active at 4 °C [ 3 ]; they become inactive as the temperature increases to 65–70°C [ 4 ]. As COVID-19 is transmitted via droplets, aerosols, and direct contact, wearing masks and washing hands with disinfectants are the foremost defensive methods. The COVID-19 virus also come out of human activities like breathing, speaking, coughing, and sneezing [ 5 ]. As a major route of COVID-19 transmission is droplets, human contact should be avoided to prevent infection. Furthermore, eating food together, such as Korean soup and side dishes, should be avoided, because the droplets can transmit the COVID-19 virus [ 6 ]. Therefore, foodservice operations have been one of the primary sources of COVID-19 transmission. During the COVID-19 era, people look for healthy foods and adopt behaviors to prevent virus transmission. The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in novel trends in the foodservice industry.

FOOD SERVICE INDUSTRY TRENDS

Emergence of covid-19 new normal era.

The COVID-19 outbreak brought a situation that people have never experienced. A new word, “a new normal era after COVID-19,” was coined. The era of Before Corona (B.C.) was separated from that of After Corona (A.C.) because people can never get back the days before the pandemic struck. The word “new normal” was used at the time of the global economic crises initiated by the US sub-prime mortgage during 2007–2008 [ 7 ]. A new normal indicates a new norm for the economic standards. The new normal After Corona described the situation as H (healthcare), O (Online), M (manless), and E (economy at home): healthcare as heightened public interest in health and safety; online as a core essence of digital economies with the advantages of artificial intelligence, big data, and 5G; manless as a proven safety and efficiency during the course of prevention from coronavirus transmission; economic activities at home while staying long hours at home [ 7 ]. Such “new normal” also took place in the food service industry.

Non-human contact (untact) purchasing

Most of all, an explosive increase has been observed in the foodservice purchasing using untact methods. Contrary to the dramatic decrease in the sales of restaurants and institutional foodservices, Starbucks Korea experienced a sales increase of 32% from January to February 2020, compared to the same months in 2019 [ 8 ]. In fact, the orders made via Siren contributed to a 25% increase in terms of the purchase number, compared to the previous year [ 9 ]. The outcome explains consumers’ intention to use untact services to minimize human contact, which will be expanded in the future. Since the order could be made online, the drive-through pick-up of the ordered products increased, from café, bakery, and fast foods to all kinds of restaurants, including even Sish-shop [ 10 ]. McDonalds expanded drive-through stores in the US and China, which resulted in a double-digit increase in sales in September 2020, compared to the same month of 2019 [ 11 ].

Explosive increase in home meal replacement (HMR) and meal-kit

One of the segments that has benefitted most from the COVID-19 outbreak is the meal-kit and HMR products [ 12 ]. While people stay at home, they care more about health and have time to cook. In the US, the sales of meal-kit products in 2020 became 2 times higher than in the previous year [ 13 ]. The major players in the meal-kit industry, Blue Apron, HelloFresh, and Home Chef, experienced a 49% increase in the number of customers. The meal-kit products satisfy the needs of a variety of customers, including vegan, gluten-free, children, and patients with diabetes [ 14 ]. In Korea, since the COVID-19 outbreak, the sales of meal-kit brands have rapidly increased, while offline retail brands rushed into the meal-kit segments with the names of Simply Cook (GS Retail), ChefBox (Hyundai Department Store), Yorihada (Lotte Mart), Gourmet 494 (Galleria), and Peacock Meal Kit (E-mart) [ 14 ]. The delivery of online order food and HMR food services increased by 77.5% in 2020, compared to the previous year [ 15 ]. Further, people are more concerned about health and look for healthy foods. Consumers purchased more high-protein salads with low calories, health-protection HMR, and fresh ingredient meal-kit [ 16 ].

Acceleration of food tech

COVID-19 resulted in the acceleration of food technology. Robotics in foodservice operations has been expanded significantly. Manless cafés, such as Briggo in USA, Lounge X in Korea, and Chowbotics in California, are its good examples [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Chowbotics is the first manless café to purchase fresh produce. Cooking robots work at various positions, such as making hamburgers in a fast-food chain (Miso Robotics in White Castle Burger in California), working at a pasta kitchen (DaVinci Kitchen, Germany), and serving in chicken restaurants (Robert Chicken, Korea) [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Moley is the first robot to cook gourmet cuisines using artificial intelligence techniques [ 23 ]. Robotics has also been applied to serving (Royal Palace, Netherlands) and deliveries (PepsiCo's, USA) [ 24 , 25 ]. TUG, as a delivery robot for patient meals at the Reading HealthPlex in Pennsylvania, reduced labor costs by 80% [ 26 ]. The UVD Robotics Techniques have been utilized to prevent COVID-19 transmission, while Blue Ocean Robotics played a role in disinfection at the Heathrow International Airport, UK [ 27 ].

New government project

In Korea, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) launched a new project called “Korean Eating Culture Improvement” in May 2020 [ 6 ]. The project aimed to change Koreans' eating behavior of sharing cuisines, which can cause diseases that are transmitted via droplets [ 28 ]. Thus, COVID-19 can be transmitted through such food-sharing behavior. To accomplish this change, MAFRA proposed three activities: one-person portion meal setting, sanitary management of spoons and chopsticks, and employees wearing masks. The project spread all over the country. Authorities of respective provinces supported the restaurants that abided by the above-mentioned activities by rendering certification to the restaurants. The project is expected to construct a safe eating culture with a high level of safety among Koreans.

RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS

COVID-19 has drastically changed the world, and many believe that some of those changes may last even after the pandemic is over [ 29 , 30 ]. This reality and future expectations certainly apply to the food service industry as well. This study discusses the kinds of research implications that can be drawn from these changes and future expectations. Such changes can be related to the behaviors and perceptions of consumers and employees, as well as the strategic responses of food service businesses. Considering these primary constituencies of the food service industry, this study attempts to provide meaningful research implications related to COVID-19.

Consumer perspectives

Consumer confidence in dining-in.

Consumers of food service businesses have been through and will continue to undergo tremendous changes due to COVID-19. First, due to lockdown or heavy restrictions on in-dining food services during the pandemic, consumers have been unable to enjoy in-dining experiences, either in a complete or at least a partial manner [ 31 , 32 ]. Even in the absence of government restrictions on the in-dining food service, many consumers were and are reluctant to dine out in a confined food service setting, because of the possibility of COVID-19 transmission [ 33 ]. Moreover, although the vaccination rate is significantly increasing, some consumers either refuse inoculation, thus avoiding dining out, or do not feel safe to dine out in a confined place even after getting vaccinated [ 34 , 35 ]. This lingering concern is understandable because of the high level of uncertainty regarding COVID-19 and its vaccines, especially among the general public [ 36 ]. Accordingly, it is important to understand the real consumer confidence in dining in food service establishments as the COVID-19 development continues and how such confidence can be boosted from the perspective of food service management.

Therefore, food service researchers should pay close attention to the status of consumers' confidence in dining at food service establishments. An important aspect of this examination would be a constant or timely update because since everyone is experiencing this type of pandemic for the first time, how people psychologically recover from and respond to this event is unknown. In particular, as vaccination rate accelerates globally, consumer confidence may recover quickly in a non-linear fashion, or it may first recover quickly but later possibly stall at a certain level due to a particular group of consumers who are either too concerned about the possibility of full recovery or skeptical of vaccination programs, which raise legitimate empirical questions for the food service industry.

Next, the food service business should have a better understanding of how they can improve consumer confidence in in-dining food services. There are various ways that can be implemented to boost consumer confidence in this matter, such as cleaning and sanitizing, restructuring the dining table layout to ensure social distancing, requiring employees and customers to wear face masks, installing transparent plastic panels at the counter and/or between tables, and minimizing human interactions (e.g., use of an electronic tablet for menu ordering or even robots to take orders). Restaurant businesses need to understand which practices to prioritize or emphasize because they do not have unlimited resources to implement them all. An efficient allocation of resources is essential for the food service industry to achieve a more desirable level of profitability because they have a tight profit margin. Furthermore, even when all or most of the possible implementations are feasible and can be done, proper prioritization of these implementations can go a long way to enhance consumer confidence in in-dining services more effectively, which can directly or indirectly impact the establishment's or brand's image, and consumer loyalty and revisit intention eventually.

Accordingly, researchers in the food service literature are recommended to explore, first, the practices that restaurant businesses should consider implementing to improve consumer confidence in in-dining services. In addition, it would be interesting to investigate differing degrees of consumers' perceptions of the importance of such practices to assist the food service business to prioritize relevant practices more efficiently and effectively, especially in terms of resource allocation. It would also be critical to study how to disseminate the information of those practices to the target markets (i.e., a marketing strategy). Some potential questions to answer in this matter may include which marketing media should be used, which practices or messages should be emphasized, and how these messages should be delivered (e.g., with more detailed information in an educational format or with more visual representations of actual practices). To accomplish these research goals, researchers should seek responses from consumers as primary data by utilizing a survey method in an observational or experimental manner. Laboratory experiments and follow-up field studies are desirable. In addition to examining the main effects of the aforementioned factors, researchers would be encouraged to test potential moderating factors such as gender, age, perceptions of COVID-19, having children, pre-existing health conditions, tendency to general risks, and so on in relation to some characteristics of consumers, but also food service types (e.g., fast food, full-service, etc.), franchised vs. independent, size of the food service establishment, managerial abilities, location of the business, and so on in relation to the business characteristics. Understanding these contingent boundaries will help untangle the proposed main relationships among the mentioned factors in a more detailed and comprehensive way.

Untact service

Another interesting topic is the contact-free service, which can be represented by the marketing term “untact service” in the recent literature (from 2017 to be precise) [ 37 ]. The untact service for the food service business includes drive-through, curbside pickup, and delivery. All these forms of untact services have become a norm in the food service industry during the current pandemic and they have helped many businesses in the industry survive the global health and economic crisis [ 38 , 39 ]. It would be important to reveal, first, how untact services have been helped the industry, for example, its impact on sales and profits, and second, how such positive impacts have been heterogeneous contingent on various factors from both consumer (e.g., gender and age) and business perspectives (e.g., location and type of food service).

Post-pandemic change

Lastly, food service researchers should pay attention to which mentioned factors would stick around even after the pandemic is over. Many believe that these new norms during the pandemic, such as the popularity of untact services, fewer interactions with service providers (e.g., service by robotics), and some cleaning and sanitization practices will continue even after the pandemic. However, it is clearly an empirical question that needs to be examined and verified with actual data and rigorous analyses. Even when consumers may anticipate that these practices will still be important and influence their decisions even after the pandemic, their perceptions can certainly change once the pandemic is over. Although we strongly believe that some of these practices will still be important even after the pandemic, which practices will be significant remains to be answered empirically. Understanding the matter will help the food service business to develop more appropriate and timely strategies.

Employee perspectives

Employee turnover.

Similar to consumers of the food service business, employees of the food service business have been experiencing tremendous changes and hardships. For example, the current pandemic has revealed a high level of risk embedded in the food service industry regarding job security from an employee's perspective. Due to the lockdowns and rigid restrictions on food service operations due to COVID-19, countless food service employees have been laid off or furloughed or have experienced a reduced number of working hours. In fact, the food service industry has been one of the hardest hits in the economy by the pandemic [ 33 ]. Since the food service industry is known for a high turnover rate of employees, the added hardship on employees in the industry has been devastating for both employees and employers. Some employees are considering switching to a new career in a different industry because of this hardship, which requires the business to decide what it needs to do to retain and recruit talented employees during and after the pandemic. This is a critical issue even for those employees who stay with their company because they have witnessed a high level of risk and uncertainty in the food service business, which is volatile to external forces such as the pandemic. The industry needs to convince its employees that the industry is still viable and has great potential to grow in the future, especially after the crisis.

Employee attitudes

Understanding the factors during the pandemic that significantly influence employees' various perceptions, such as satisfaction, commitment, and loyalty, is critical for food service management. Employee perceptions play an important role in shaping employees' intention to remain with the company at the end [ 40 , 41 ]. Despite the extreme operational hardships faced by food service employers during the pandemic, they still need to ensure that they show their employees that they care for them and are trying their best to provide them with job security during the pandemic. Such practices can go a long way, possibly making significantly positive impacts on employees' satisfaction with and commitment to their organization because employees also understand how challenging those practices can be during the current pandemic. This kind of positive impact may eventually have an aftereffect on organizational culture and its long-term success. Accordingly, it is suggested that researchers may explore how employers' caring and transparency in their communication influence employees' perceptions and behaviors during the pandemic.

Human resources allocation

Another important issue that needs to be considered regarding employees in the food service business during the pandemic is human resource allocation. As discussed earlier, the food service business had to adapt to a new business environment during the pandemic by extensively implementing untact services, such as drive-through, curbside pickup, and delivery. In doing so, many food service businesses had to deviate from their traditional in-dining services. Such a dramatic transition requires reallocation of human resources to different tasks and related new training. It would be interesting to research how this reallocation impacted the food service business and, in particular, employees' various perceptions about their job and productivity. Additionally, an extension of this research to the post-pandemic period should be encouraged because such investigations may reveal possible lasting benefits (e.g., improved human capital with multiple capabilities) and/or drawbacks (e.g., dissatisfied employees with too many or less focused job responsibilities) in a long-term manner.

Organizational strategy perspectives

Corporate social responsibility strategy and more.

In addition to the customer and employee perspectives, there are potential research topics from an organizational strategy perspective that need attention. Food service businesses can implement or might have implemented certain organizational strategies to cope with the pandemic. Accordingly, it is important for researchers to investigate which business strategies (e.g., corporate social responsibility [CSR], franchising, internationalization, and diversification) generate positive benefits during the pandemic. For example, previous studies found that a firm's engagement in CSR activities can enhance employees' commitment to and satisfaction with their organization, improve their productivity, and reduce turnover intention [ 42 , 43 ]. Furthermore, many previous studies have found that CSR positively impacts consumers [ 44 ] and firm performance [ 45 ]. Hence, it can be interesting to see whether the food service business's CSR investment during the pandemic has the same positive impact (e.g., on customers, employees, and/or business performance). Interestingly, some may argue that an investment in CSR activities during the pandemic has an opposite impact (i.e., a negative impact) on employees, customers, and performance because such investments will cause the cash flow of the business to become even tighter in an extremely difficult time, thus making the probability of its survival slimmer.

It would also be interesting to explore whether a company's pre-existing reputation of being socially responsible can generate business benefits during the pandemic. The pre-existing reputation is not about the company's investment in CSR during the pandemic, but rather the reputation that had already been built before the pandemic, which does not put any burden on the company during the pandemic. In such a case, the pre-existing reputation of CSR may be more likely to provide benefits because it does not cost the company anything during the pandemic, and CSR investment has been found to provide insurance-like protection during a crisis [ 46 ]. All these CSR issues can be viewed as part of or equivalent to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, which have gained considerable attention from the corporate world and public. Although the ESG concept was created and has been used more in the investment context, due to its extensive popularity in the contemporary corporate world, the term is now used more interchangeably with a broader concept, such as CSR. Accordingly, the suggested research topics are timely, even in the context of ESG. However, since all these suggested research issues are empirical questions, they require empirical verification.

Furthermore, similar research studies apply to other business strategies, such as franchising, internationalization, and various diversification strategies. In particular, since the food service industry employs the franchising strategy the most in the U.S. economy [ 47 ], significant implications of implementing the strategy may exist in relation to the pandemic. Researchers are encouraged to find such implications.

Unit-level analysis

The organizational strategies mentioned above are mainly at the firm level and not at the individual unit level. A majority of the food service business consists of independent and small businesses. Hence, inspecting the effects of the characteristics of the food service business at an individual unit level during the pandemic can provide meaningful and practical implications for food service business owners and operators. An example of such characteristics can be the type of financing. In contrast with large corporations, small food service businesses rely heavily on personal connections to finance (e.g., raising capital from family members and friends) in addition to formal financing (i.e., loans from financial institutions). These different types of financing may imply certain capabilities or lack of them in owners and consequently suggest some anticipatory outcomes during the pandemic, such as a high likelihood of suffering from poor performance and business failure. Thus, these issues should be researched to gain a better understanding of the food service business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in tremendous changes in the overall economy and society. In the food service industry, the ways people order has shifted mostly to non-human contact or untact methods, such as online orders and drive-through orders. The consumption of particular products, such as HMR and meal-kit, has also increased explosively. Cooking and serving robots have been extensively adopted to prevent human contact and reduce labor costs. The COVID-19 situation has also caused serious issues in environmental protection. In terms of research implications, COVID-19 poses great challenges and provides opportunities. This study discusses these challenges and opportunities from three perspectives: consumer, employee, and organizational strategy perspectives.

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interests.

Author Contributions:

• Conceptualization: Ham S, Lee, S.
• Investigation: Ham S, Lee S.
• Supervision: Ham S, Lee S.
• Writing - original draft: Ham S, Lee S.
• Writing - review & editing: Ham S, Lee S.

A case study on strategies to deal with the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in the food and beverage industry

• Published: 30 September 2020
• Volume 15 , pages 166–178, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

• Md. Tarek Chowdhury 1 ,
• Aditi Sarkar 2 ,
• Sanjoy Kumar Paul   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9523-179X 3 &
• Md. Abdul Moktadir 4  

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This research investigates the impacts of the novel coronavirus disease, also referred to as COVID-19 pandemic, on the food and beverage industry. It examines both short-term and medium-to-long-term impacts of the pandemic and outlines strategies to reduce the potential consequences of those impacts. To this end, we use a qualitative, multiple-case-study methodology, collecting data from eight sample companies with fourteen respondents in the food and beverage industry in Bangladesh. The findings show that the short-term impacts of this pandemic, such as product expiry, shortage of working capital, and limited operations of distributors, are severe, while the medium-to-long-term impacts promise to be complex and uncertain. In the longer term, various performance metrics, such as return on investment by the firms, the contribution of the firms to the gross domestic product (GDP), and employee size, are all expected to decrease. Moreover, firms may need to restructure their supply chain and build relationships with new distributors and trade partners. The study proposes several strategies that managers in this sector can adopt to improve resiliency in the changing environment during and after the COVID-19 era. While this research is novel and contributes to both theory and practice, it does not consider small and medium-sized companies in the food and beverage industry. Therefore, the impacts and strategies we identify may not apply to smaller companies.

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1 Introduction

The novel coronavirus disease, also referred to as COVID-19, was first identified in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, which is in the Hubei province of China. Within a short time, the COVID-19 epidemic spread throughout the globe, becoming a true pandemic that has severely affected almost every country. The COVID-19 pandemic has a direct impact on public health (Paul & Chowdhury 2020a ). As of September 6, 2020, COVID-19 had resulted in more than 26.9 million infections and more than 881 thousand deaths (Worldometers 2020 ). Along with its impact on public health, the pandemic has also impacted the operations of supply chains, sustainable economic growth, and the environmental performance of supply chains (Chowdhury & Paul, 2020 ; Khan et al., 2019 ; Suhi et al. 2019 ; Paul et al. 2019a ; Khan et al., 2020 ; Moktadir et al. 2020 ).

The COVID-19 pandemic has also had significant economic consequences globally. In particular, the world economy faces a negative supply stock because of the pandemic, which has forced factories to keep shutting down, thereby disrupting the global network of supply chains. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECR, 2020 ) has predicted the most substantial downward growth in South Korea, Australia, and Japan. More generally, because of COVID-19, people have been advised to maintain “social distancing” with severe effects on the business of tourism and travel-related industries. For example, the International Air Transport Association estimates that the pandemic has cost global air carriers between $63 billion and $113 billion in revenue in 2020 alone (Segal & Gerstel 2020 ). Many other industries, such as tourism and hospitality, food processing, education, fashion and apparel, leather, and other retail sectors, have all been affected significantly by COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the many industries impacted by the pandemic, the food and beverage industry is unique, fulfilling some of the most basic needs of humankind. This industry is one of the fast-growing industries in the world. In the European Union (EU), agriculture and the industrial sectors responsible for the production of food, beverages, and tobacco deliver 75% of the bio-economy turnover, and they account for 80% of the employment in the overall EU bio-economy (Klitkou & Bolwig, 2019 ). In India, the food industry accounts for over 40% of India’s Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry, and continues to grow at record levels (Ministry of Food Processing Industries of India, 2017 ). In line with the growth of the food and beverage industry globally, the food-processing growth rate in Bangladesh, which is the context of the current study, was 6.1% in 2010, while just five years later, in 2015, the growth rate was 12.5%. The total number of people employed in this sector is 1.3 million, making up 10.27% of the total number of people employed across all industries (Nath 2012 ). In short, the food and beverage industry plays a vital role in the national and international economy including Bangladesh. Like other industries, the food and beverage industry has been hit hard by impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused enormous losses in many sectors of the global economy. It is thus all the more crucial to explore the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and to consider potential strategies for dealing with those impacts.

There are several strands of research on business disruption and its management in the context of the food and beverage industry (Bruzzone et al. 2013 ; Sharma & Singhal 2018 ). Some of the latest studies have investigated the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the food supply chain, but they have not considered strategies to overcome the negative impacts of the pandemic. For example, Deaton and Deaton ( 2020 ) investigated the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on food security in the context of Canada’s agricultural system. Hobbs ( 2020 ) assessed the impacts of the pandemic on food supply chain resilience while also discussing the demand-side shocks caused by panic buying and consumption patterns in Canada. However, to the best of our knowledge, no research has yet explored the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the food and beverage industry in the context of an emerging economy. Therefore, this research contributes to the emerging economy by investigating the case of the food and beverage industry which is one of the fastest-growing industries in Bangladesh.

Further, nor have researchers examined strategies for overcoming those impacts and thereby improving resiliency in such contexts. To fill these gaps in the literature, the present study establishes the following research questions.

RQ1: What are the potential impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the food and beverage industry during and after the pandemic?

RQ2: What are some potential strategies for dealing with the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and for improving resilience in this sector?

RQ3: Which specific strategies are effective in addressing which particular impacts?

To answer these research questions, the present study investigates the short-term as well as the medium-to-long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and considers what strategies management should take to reduce these impacts and to improve resiliency within what is a rapidly changing environment. This study undertakes a case-study based qualitative approach to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, a qualitative research technique used as it works efficiently where the numerical data is not available as well as the research questions are exploratory in nature. Also, it helps to narrow down a vast research field into one easily researchable topic.

This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents a review of the research conducted on supply chain disruption and supply chain disruption management, particularly in the context of epidemics and pandemics. The research methodology is described in Section 3. Section 4 discusses the main findings of the study. Managerial implications are discussed in Section 5. Finally, Section 6 concludes the paper with a discussion of the study’s limitations and future research directions.

2 Literature review

This section reviews the extant literature on supply chain disruption to report the current state of knowledge about disruption management in the food and beverage industry, particularly in the context of epidemics or pandemics.

2.1 Risk and disruption management

In business and organizational research, risk is generally defined in terms of negative variations from the expected outcomes (Miller 1992 ). This means that only the incidents that have negative impacts on the outcome of the organization’s operations are considered as a risk (Chen, Sohal & Prajogo 2013 ; Guertler & Spinler 2015 ). Disruption, meanwhile, is a particular type of risk that involves catastrophic events (Chen et al. 2019 ; Meena & Sarmah 2014 ; Scholten et al. 2014 ; Paul et al. 2019b  and c ). Disruption risk can impact the sustainability of the supply chain (Moktadir et al. 2018 ).

Disruptions, in this sense, have been investigated from two main perspectives in the literature. The first perspective focuses on the geographical location of the disruption. More specifically, two types of disruption scenarios based on location have been explored: local disruptions and local plus global disruptions (Sawik 2011 ; Paul et al. 2016 ; Paul et al. 2017 ). In the case of local disruption, the events at issue involve a single factory or supplier, such as a fire or the breakdown of machinery at a specific plant. On the other hand, for the scenarios that entail both local and global disruptions, all or some of the supply chain partners across the globe are simultaneously impacted (Ritchie & Brindley 2000 ; Ivanov 2020a ; Manuj & Mentzer 2008 ; Zhao et al. 2013 ). The other main perspective on disruption considers the functions of the supply chains that are affected. In this connection, research has considered supply-side disruption (Pal et al. 2014 ; Gülpnar et al. 2014 ; Ray & Jenamani 2013 ; Wang & Yu 2020 ), production disruption (Paul et al. 2019b ; Bao et al. 2020 ), transportation and distribution disruption (Chaghooshi & Moein 2014 ; Wilson 2007 ; Hishamuddin et al. 2015 ), demand-side disruption (Paul et al. 2014a and b ; Kirchoff et al. 2011 ; Ray & Jenamani 2016 ), and the combination of two or more the previously listed types of disruption. This perspective focuses on how a disruption in a particular function of a supply chain can imbalance the entire supply chain network, due to the ripple effect it creates (Kim et al. 2014 ; Dolgui et al. 2020 ; Das et al. 2019 ; Ivanov et al. 2019 ; Pavlov et al. 2019 ).

To overcome a company’s vulnerability to disruptions, it is imperative to formulate and implement strategies for managing disruption (Park et al. 2016 ; Paul and Rahman 2018 ; Paul et al. 2018 ). Several such strategies have already been recommended and tested in the literature. For example, inventory stockpiling, diversification of supplies and suppliers, and creating back-up suppliers have been suggested as ways of managing disruption risk (Tomlin & Wang 2009 ). Moreover, strategies such as emergency sourcing (Huang et al. 2018 ; He et al. 2015 ), buffer inventory (Darom et al. 2018 ; Paul et al. 2015a , 2015b ), and reserve capacity (Paul et al. 2014a , 2014b ; Hishamuddin et al. 2013 ), as well as collaborative strategies such as on-time and quality information sharing (Sarkar & Kumar 2015 ; Chowdhury et al. 2016 ) and flexibility (Glenn et al. 2009 ), have also been suggested for purposes of disruption management. The proper configuration of resources and infrastructure is also required, along with disruption orientation, to ensure that firms can manage disruptions efficiently (Ambulkar et al. 2015 ). These strategies for managing disruption can make a supply chain more resilient (Tang 2006 ).

2.2 Disruption in the food and beverage industry

Similar to other industries, the food and beverage industries, at any given time, face several disruptions. The potential disruptions associated with the food and beverage industry arise from many sources in the supply chain, including customers, suppliers at different tiers, internal production processes, and distribution and storage, as well as external environments such as political circumstances and wars (Bruzzone et al. 2013 ). In addition, the supply chain of the food and beverage industry is associated with uncertainties and delays because the industry itself is dynamic in nature and carries a risk propensity (Sharma & Singhal 2018 ). Based on a case study on Back Alley Café, Kristina and Wijaya ( 2017 ) classified 59 incidents in the food and beverage industry into four categories; the categories include incidents involving extreme, high-level, medium-level, and low-level risks. Economic growth opportunities in the industry are threatened by such disruptions, which may also, in the process, damage the environment. When the food and beverage industry loses efficiency due to risks of this sort, it may very well revert to high levels of water consumption and wastewater production (Valta et al. 2015 ). Hence, to ensure a responsive and effective supply chain, proactive strategies are required to handle these disruptions and vulnerabilities (Nyang’au 2016 ). Previous research has shown that firms in the food and beverage industry are capable of improving their performance by undertaking efficient disruption management strategies. Thus, Adeleke et al. ( 2020 ), for example, reported that the implementation of appropriate disruption management strategies had enhanced the performance of food and beverage firms in Nigeria.

2.3 Research gaps

The existing literature on disruptions in the commercial food and beverage industry has not considered the impacts of epidemics or pandemics on this sector. Instead, most of the research on the disruptive effects of public health crises of this sort have focused on humanitarian issues, such as how food and other forms of relief can be distributed efficiently (Dasaklis et al. 2012 ; Ivanov 2020a ; Paul & Chowdhury 2020a ). Yet commercial firms in the food and beverage industries have been affected by a number of recent epidemics as well as the COVID-19 pandemic (Hudecheck et al. 2020 ). The impacts of these disruptions are severe, because such crises have long-lasting ripple effects and can impact the operations at multiple levels simultaneously, including sourcing, production, and distribution (Ivanov 2020a ; see also Choi 2020 ; Ivanov 2020b ; Ivanov & Dolgui 2020 ; Samson 2020). COVID-19 has had, for the same reasons, a severe impact on the firms in this industry (Cappelli & Cini 2020 ). However, the specific impacts of this pandemic on the commercial food and beverage supply chain firms are still unknown, because research in this area has not yet emerged. Therefore, by investigating the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the food and beverage industry, the current study can contribute to the literature. Moreover, our focus on strategies for reducing the impacts of the pandemic can serve as a guide for the managers in this sector. In addition, because we use a developing country, Bangladesh, as a case study for investigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper can enrich current understandings of how disruptions affect food and beverage supply chains in developing countries (Karuppiah et al. 2020 ; Tumpa et al. 2019 ; Gaikwad et al. 2020 ).

3 Research methodology

This section provides details about the research methodology, including methods of data collection and data analysis, that we used in our study.

3.1 Research methods

This research adopts a qualitative, case-study-based methodology. Qualitative research, which collects and works with non-numerical data, is a method used to narrow down a vast field of research into one easily researchable topic (Creswell 2013 ). It seeks to interpret the meaning and provide an in-depth understanding of a particular situation or problem (Mohajan 2018 ). Given that the current COVID-19 pandemic is a unique type of supply chain disruption, it is important to conduct an in-depth study to determine the short-term and medium-to-long-term impacts of the pandemic and to consider how companies in particular industries can minimize its impacts. Hence, we use a case-study-based analysis as the most appropriate approach (Yin 2013 ).

We used semi-structured interviews to gather data from respondents, with interviews being the most commonly used source of data in case-study-based research (Eisenhardt 1989 ; Sharan 1998 ). The interview protocol is provided in Appendix A; we used this protocol to collect data from the respondents. The study gathered data from fourteen respondents in eight companies, compiling an amount of information that is sufficient to understand the phenomena under investigation (Yin 2013 ): namely, the challenges of operating in the food and beverage industry of Bangladesh during the era of COVID-19. Persons involved in managing the operations were selected for the interviews, since they have knowledge about the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic—knowledge that can inform possible strategies for responding to its impacts. Moreover, in selecting the respondents, we ensured that they had significant work experience in the industry. As shown in Table 1 , most of the respondents have ten or more years of experience in this sector. The interviews we conducted lasted 45–60 min, and 50 min on average. The interviews were conducted either via face-to-face meetings or over the phone, using the interview protocol provided in Appendix A.

3.2 Research context and data analysis

We collected data from the food and beverage industry in Bangladesh, in part because this industry contributes substantially to the economy of Bangladesh. The food and beverage industry is a fast-growing industry in Bangladesh. The industry employs around 1.3 million people, or 10.27% of the total workforce across all industries in Bangladesh (Nath 2012 ). The industry also contributes substantially to the GDP of Bangladesh. Thus, in 2013, the contribution of the food and beverage sector to the GDP of Bangladesh was 1.64% (Raihan et al. 2017 ). However, due to COVID-19, this industry is facing enormous challenges, which need to be investigated thoroughly so that managers can formulate proper strategies in response (Kalerkantho, 2020 ). Our study systematically analyzes the data we collected by categorizing and comparing the interviews (Yin 2013 ; Signori et al. 2015 ). Moreover, we took appropriate measures to improve the reliability of our findings, such as using purposive sampling to ensure that companies that produce both food and beverage were represented, and maintaining the anonymity of the data (Shah & Corley 2006 ). We carefully reviewed the interview data in order to identify the main short-term and medium-to-long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, most of the respondents converged in their accounts of the key short-term and medium-to-long-term impacts and of the best strategies for overcoming them. Table 1 shows the profiles of respondents and the representative companies.

4 Findings and discussions

This section presents the primary findings of the study. The findings are presented in two sub-sections: the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential strategies to reduce or mitigate those impacts.

4.1 Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic

We set out to investigate both short-term and medium-to-long-term impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the food and beverage industry in Bangladesh, and our discussions with the respondents from the representative companies clearly indicate that this pandemic has had both types of impacts. For example, R7 mentioned that “the impacts of COVID-19 will not end in one day. While several areas of our business have already been impacted, we think the impacts will be greater in the post-COVID-19 era.” Similarly, R2 stated, “we are currently facing several challenges, which will continue for a long time in the future.” Based on our complete data-set, our findings concerning the short-term and medium-to-long-term impacts are as follows.

Short-term impacts

Several respondents mentioned product expiry as one of the short-term impacts of the pandemic. Their products had been placed in retail stores in March 2020 to meet the demand of the peak buying season (March through June), but those products now had a high chance of reaching their expiry dates. As R2 put it, “we produced a large amount of our products at the beginning of March to fulfill the demand of peak season. However, since most of the retail stores and restaurants were closed during April and May due to government restrictions, we are very much concerned about the expiry of these products.” In a similar vein, R8 stated, “food and beverage products have a short life; we expect a huge expiry of products in the places of trade, the distributor’s warehouse, and the company’s depot.”

The second short-term impact that emerged from our discussions with the participants is the shortage of working capital during this crisis period. For example, R8 mentioned that “the sales volume has decreased so much that we are now experiencing huge cash flow shortage.” Similarly, R9 stated that “the quantity of the company’s products being taken by distributors is currently very low. Hence, our cash inflow is far below what we expected.” This particular short-term impact leads to some other short-term impacts. For example, due to reduced cash inflow, companies are struggling to carry out normal operating expenditures, such as paying the salary of the staff, covering the rent of the factory and warehouses, and taking care of utility bills, the interest charges from bank loans, and other operating expenses. One of the respondents, R13, mentioned that “it is very difficult for us to carry out regular operational expenses such as employee salaries and wages, utility expenses, rent, and bank-loan interest, due to the slow cash inflow during this crisis period.” Similarly, R1 stated, “we are facing a huge challenge to manage operating costs because of a shortage of cash.”

Moreover, companies are struggling to open a letter of credit (LC) in order to obtain source materials that would allow them to meet future demand. Given that companies are currently facing the problem of product expiry, they are planning to keep materials ready for the future and restart production when the public-health restrictions are eased. Their aim is to ensure that they do not lose any future sales due to a lack of materials or internal production problems. However, because of shortages of operating capital as well as limited banking hours, firms are struggling to open LCs. For example, R1 noted that “the frequency of opening LCs has decreased due to slow cash inflow. While we used to open an LC every month, lately we have opened an LC every other month.” Likewise, R8 said, “we are not able to open an LC as per regular practice due to a shortage of cash.”

The final short-term impact mentioned by the respondents is the closure or limited operations of distributors and trade partners. The operations of the distributors remain limited because most of the restaurants and retailers are closed. When distributors do deliver products to the market using a vehicle, their total expenditures exceed the total earnings due to the low volume of sales. For example, R9 said, “the operations of many distributors have temporarily remained closed because sales have been drastically reduced; this reduction is due to the closure of the retail stores.” Similarly, R3 mentioned that “distributors are reluctant to serve the market during this crisis period, because their operating costs are higher than the profit they make by delivering the products.” Table 2 summarizes the short-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the food and beverage industry, with the asterisk symbol indicating which companies noted each impact.

Medium-to-long-term impacts

Along with short-term impacts, our interviews brought to light many medium-to-long-term impacts from COVID-19 pandemic. Reduction in return on investment (ROI) is one of the significant medium-to-long-term impacts mentioned by the respondents. Business performance, including profit and loss figures, is calculated in the food and beverage industry in Bangladesh on a quarterly basis. Given that the companies’ sales volume has already decreased in the first and second quarters in 2020, and given that it is expected to decrease further due to the pandemic, companies have forecasted lower sales in the coming days. As a result, companies may suffer from a reduction in ROI in the medium-to-long term (i.e., in the rest of quarter Q3 and also in Q4). Thus R4 mentioned that “we have observed a huge loss in sales during Q2 2020, which will negatively impact the profitability of the whole year.” Along similar lines, R1 mentioned that “sales in April and May 2020 have dropped by 80% when compared to sales in the same months in 2019. As a result, we are expecting a reduced ROI in this financial year.” As the ROI of the companies has decreased and may be further reduced, there is a high probability of long-term job cuts during and after the crisis period. As R14 put it, “we expect job cuts in the long-term, because the ROI of the company may decrease. I think this will happen not only in our company, but also in the industry as a whole.” Similarly, R5 stated that “we cannot assess the future prospects of the business at this moment. Being uncertain, the company may not retain the same workforce levels.”

Other potential medium-to-long-term impacts include those affecting supply chain relationships and structure. One such impact concerns the reduction in trade relationships, or relationships involving the manufacturers and the wholesalers/retailers who sell their product for profit. Companies in the food and beverage industries generally spend on trade promotion by providing retailers extra product for free. For example, while selling products to retailers, a beverage manufacturer may allocate one or two units of free product for every 12 units purchased. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, companies may not be able to provide such promotions to retailers or wholesalers. Thus, R12 said, “we usually run different trade promotional activities to build a strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers. However, during this crisis period, we have reduced these trade promotional costs to survive in the industry.” Likewise, R2 remarked, “we may need to reduce trade promotions during this crisis period.”

A complete restructuring of the supply chain, and a rebuilding of supply chain relationships, may prove to be another significant medium-to-long-term impact. During the crisis period, distributors, who purchase products directly from the manufacturers and sell them to wholesalers and retailers, have faced a situation in which their operating expenses are higher than their revenue. Hence many distributors are currently closed. Many of them may never reopen, since they may not be able to carry operating costs during the closure. Thus R11 noted that, “if the sales remain low for a longer period, many distributors may permanently close their business. As a result, we need to find out new distributors and build relationships with them.” In the same vein, R12 stated, “many distributors may change their profession from distributorship to other professions in the post-COVID-19 era. This will force us to build new partnerships.” Another respondent, R7, said, “I think in the post COVID-19 era the popularity of online sales will increase.” These responses clearly highlight that firms will need to restructure their supply chains, with a high focus on online modes or omni-channels.

A final medium-to-long-term impact is a reduction in how much the industry as a whole contributes to the GDP. The shaky situation in the food and beverage industry during and after the pandemic may reduce the sales and revenue of the industry, leading, in turn, to a decrease in contribution to GDP. As one respondent, R11, put it, “the continuous decrease in sales revenue may lead to a reduction of the contribution of this industry to GDP.” Likewise, R6 mentioned that “consumers are likely to avoid chilled beverage products during and after the pandemic and focus on homemade goods for their own safety.” The possibility of a reduction in demand over the medium-to-long term certainly will have an impact on the contributions of the food and beverage industry to the economy in general, and to GDP in particular. The medium-to-long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and beverage industry are summarized in Table 3 . Once again, the asterisk symbol denotes the case companies that mentioned the respective impact.

4.2 Management strategies for dealing with the impacts

In addition to exploring the short-term and medium-to-long-term impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the food and beverage industry, the interviews with the respondents also covered strategies for tackling or responding to these impacts. When the respondents mentioned impacts of the pandemic, they were asked about potential strategies for minimizing each of the impacts. While these strategies cannot completely negate the impacts, they may potentially reduce their severity. In doing so, the strategies can enhance the companies’ resilience capabilities in a rapidly changing environment.

Based on our discussions with the respondents, we identified the main strategies linked with each of the impacts, with a view to determining what strategies are most useful for what sorts of impacts. For example, according to the respondents, First Expiry First Out (FEFO) is the prime strategy for minimizing the risk of product expiry. In turn, by reducing the threat of product expiry, the strategy can also minimize losses in companies’ return on investment. As one of the respondents, R2, said, “we use a dashboard in the factory’s warehouse and regional depot to maintain FEFO properly. Moreover, we are now randomly checking the distributor’s warehouse, to see whether they are maintaining this approach or not.” In a similar vein, R8 mentioned that “we are now delivering first, from our company’s warehouse as well as from the regional depot, the products that will expire the soonest.”

Product rotation was found to be another vital strategy for minimizing the risk of expiry. Generally speaking, retailers put products with more recent dates in front and products with older dates in the back of the shelf. As a result, while new products are sold, old products reach their expiry date before being purchased. Therefore, respondents suggested product-rotation methods whereby products are either rotated within the store, from the back of the shelf to front of the shelf, or else rotated between stores, from low-traffic stores to stores with higher sales volumes.. For example, R11 mentioned that “when we go for a market visit, we work with retailers to rotate the products that are expiring first from the back of the shelf to the front. If a retail store seems incapable of selling the product before the expiry date, we transfer the products to high-traffic retail stores to minimize the chance of expiry.” From the responses, it is evident that product rotation not only minimizes the risk of expiry but also reduces negative relationships with traders and positively impacts return on investment. Thus, R5 remarked, “product rotation can minimize the expired products, and this helps to reduce the loss of ROI.” Another respondent, R3, stated, “the relationship with traders deteriorates mainly due to refusals to provide compensation for product expiry. If the field force does the product rotation properly, this will minimize the expiry, and help maintain good relationships with traders.”

Given that sales revenues have decreased substantially during the pandemic, and given that future sales seem uncertain, the management may decide to make job cuts over the longer term, as reported in the previous section. The interviews also revealed, however, that instead of making job cuts, companies can use the strategy of a partial sacrifice of remuneration, agreed to by employees and employers. This strategy recurs in the responses of the respondents. For example, R9 said, “with an agreement between employees and employers, salaries can be reduced in order to retain the total workforce.” In the same vein, R1 mentioned that “we understand that an employee losing a job during the crisis period will impact an entire family. Hence, we want to keep our human resources but need to reduce salaries for a certain period of time.”

The responses also revealed that, after the crisis period, staff will be requested to work harder during extended hours to make up for the losses caused by the pandemic and to maintain the contribution to GDP. One respondent, R10, mentioned that “we will extend our regular opening hours, say by two hours, after the pandemic, in order to enhance productivity and cover the previous loss.” R4 stated, “we have no other way but to work hard with extended hours to make the business viable after the COVID-19 era.” The study also reveals that staff might be called on to work weekends, via an agreement between employees and employers. These considerations tie in directly with ROI and the desire to increase contributions to the overall economy. For example, R11 mentioned that “with the agreement between employees and employers, we can utilize some holidays as working days after the pandemic to make up for the loss.” Similarly, R1 remarked that “we may need to work during the weekends and holidays in the post-COVID-19 era to minimize the loss.”

Short-term incentives for the distributor surfaced as a strategy for ensuring the survival of distributors during and after the crisis period. They can also help increase cash flow, allowing companies to offset the shortage of working capital, carry out operational expenses, and open LCs to meet future demand. For example, R9 mentioned that “we have given short-term incentives to the distributors, based on the volume of products they order, to help make them operational. This is likely to increase sales and cash flow.” Likewise, R2 said, “short-term incentives to the distributors during this crisis period work as a tonic to push them to deliver products even though the sales volume is low. It helps to increase cash inflow to the company to manage operational expenses.” By keeping distributors operational, companies can also reduce the necessity to rebuild relationships with new suppliers. As noted previously, companies may need to find new distributors and suppliers if their current partners stop operations. Such incentives to the distributors can undoubtedly help in this regard. As R13 put it, “if the distributor survives, we will not need to find a new distributor in the post-COVID-19 era and can conduct business with them [i.e., the current distributor] for a long time.”

Another strategy that emerged is decreasing trade promotion costs in order to reduce operational expenses. One of the respondents, R12, mentioned that “we spend around 40 taka [the local currency of Bangladesh] per case in the form of trade promotions. At this moment, we are not in a position to spend the same amount on trade promotions.” In the same vein, R2 said, “generally, we give trade promotions to boost sales, but during the crisis period, the overall demand is very low. Therefore, we would like to reduce the trade promotion cost to save money for essential operational costs.” The reduction of trade promotions can also help reduce the loss of ROI. For example, R8 said, “every taka counts; if we can minimize costs by decreasing trade promotions, we can reduce our loss of ROI.”

Finally, the study reveals that companies need to restructure their supply chain designs, by building online sales infrastructure to complement their traditional retail-based sales capabilities. By increasing sales, this initiative can increase cash inflows to meet working capital, carry out operational expenses, and increase ROI. As R2 put it, “we need to build our capability to run the business in both online and offline modes because the online mode is likely to become the main mode of sales after this pandemic.” Similarly, R7 stated, “we need to build our infrastructure for online sales, because we are currently selling products using several external online interfaces.” Table 4 summarizes the strategies for reducing the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in the food and beverage industry.

5 Managerial implications

In exploring the short-term and medium-to-long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and beverage industry in Bangladesh, our study also outlines potential strategies that managers working in this industry can adopt to help minimize these impacts. Practitioners in this industry can undoubtedly use the findings of this study to understand how COVID-19 pandemic has impacted or will impact the operations of their supply chain, and how they can work to mitigate such impacts. Our data suggest that product expiry is one of the most critical short-term impacts, given that the respondents repeatedly mentioned this issue during the interviews. Even in normal times without any disruptions, product shelf life is generally considered to be one of the greatest challenges and constraints in the fresh food and beverage industry (Soman et al. 2004 ). Our findings indicate that the situation has become worse in the current period, because sales have decreased drastically.

As a result, companies need to undertake appropriate measures to control the problem of product expiry. To this end, companies can develop an online ordering platform and introduce a fast delivery system to get the products to end consumers in a timely fashion. Alongside this policy, managers need to ensure that they dispatch the food and beverage products that are expiring first. Such an approach should be implemented at the different stages of the downstream supply chain, including when products are delivered from the factory to distributors, from distributors to traders (wholesalers or retailers), and from retailers to customers. To encourage the downstream partners to follow the approach, firms can also provide some incentives. For example, a retailer can be given some monetary incentives if the retailer can reduce the return of expired food and beverage products. At the same time, managers need to instruct the field force to rotate the food and beverage products that have imminent expiry dates. Our findings show that rotation can be made within stores, from the back to the front of the shelf, or between stores, from low-traffic retail stores to higher-traffic retail stores. However, the field force needs to play an active role here to ensure proper rotation. The field officers need to check the expiry date of the product when making their scheduled visits to markets (using safety measures appropriate for the COVID-19 pandemic), and undertake the appropriate rotation methods by considering the sales volume of the retail stores in question.

With respect to other short-term impacts, it is clear that companies are currently suffering from a lack of working capital, given that their operating cost is higher than sales revenue. Therefore, managers should identify and implement every possible strategy for increasing sales. According to our findings, the most promising option is to focus on online sales. The findings suggest that whereas companies in developed countries are well-equipped with an omni-channel sales infrastructure (Montgomery et al. 2019 ), food and beverage companies in developing countries are not yet able to take full advantage of such omni-channel sales methods. Therefore, we recommend that food and beverage industry managers sell products not only via their websites but also through other e-commerce interfaces. Expanding sales channels can help reduce the problem of the liquidity crisis, thereby assisting companies in meeting operational expenses and opening LCs for raw materials in order to meet future demand. While this might not be the right time to make major investments in developing online infrastructure, managers should seriously consider how to expand their sales channels and build infrastructure whenever possible, since our findings suggest that sales of food and beverage products in online modes will increase in the post COVID-19 era.

Our study also reveals that distributors are struggling to operate their businesses due to low sales volume, and that some of them have either shut down their operations or are in the process of shutting down. Given that, in the food and beverage industry, distributors play a crucial role in ensuring product availability in the market (Lee & Klassen 2008 ), managers should give short-term incentives to distributors based on the volume of product ordered, so that they can sustain their operations and cover the products’ delivery cost. Management should also adopt a long-term perspective on their relationships with distributors, assuring them of a standing commitment so that they come forward to help companies (Chowdhury et al. 2019 ). Distributors will thereby be encouraged to deliver products to the market and also order them from manufacturing companies. Such efforts will not only address the problem of the distributors’ continued business viability, but also improve the companies’ relationships with them and help increase products’ availability in the market over the long term.

The findings on medium-to-long-term impacts suggest that the ROI of the companies will decrease due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, managers should take the required steps to minimize all non-emergency costs. Given that trade and promotion cost is generally high in the food and beverage industry (Budd et al. 2017 ), we recommend that managers reduce or postpone trade promotion costs during and after the crisis period. However, to ensure that taking such actions does not affect their trade relationships, companies can assure their trade partners that this strategy is temporary and that it will be reversed once the companies recover from the pandemic. Further, job cuts are another major impact of the pandemic. In this regard, managers should work collaboratively with employees to cut a certain percentage of remuneration, as agreed by both parties, during the crisis period and also, if required, for a certain period in the post COVID-19 era. Such steps can help maintain total workforce levels. When reducing the remuneration, managers can give employees the option to take additional leave or work fewer hours to justify the pay cut.

Our findings confirmed that the reduction of trade relationships will be a medium-to-long-term impact on the food and beverage industry. As COVID-19 pandemic impacts supply chain infrastructure, trade relationships may be undermined. Therefore, managers need to focus on how to build strong trade relationships with different partners in order to ensure supply chain sustainability. Managers of the food and beverage industry can think how to collaborate with trade partners such as suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in a faster way using the latest technology. Technological infrastructure as well as trade policy development considering COVID-19 situation may help to collaborate among trade partners in a faster way. Further, managers can offer some incentives to partners for operating their businesses, and this strategy, too, may help reduce the impacts of the pandemic.

The need to rebuilding and restructure the supply chain network is likely to be another medium-to-long-term impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Since COVID-19 is an infectious disease, the pandemic has made it very difficult to run business operations in a normal way. Our study suggests that managers should take steps to build a more resilient supply chain network for the food and beverage industry. It is certain that the COVID-19 pandemic will change the ways of doing business, managers should be focused on building resiliency by integrating different emergent technologies, including artificial intelligence, big data analytics, data-driven supply chains, blockchain technology, and the Internet of Things (IoT), into their business operations over the long term (Moktadir et al. 2019 ). Further, to minimize human contact in food processing, managers may think about the implementation of robots.

The reduction of the industry’s contributions to GDP surfaced as another medium-to-long-term impact of COVID-19 pandemic. It can be predicted that countries will generally lose GDP significantly due to the impacts of the pandemic. Therefore, governments should take actions to mitigate this situation, such as offering incentives and support to the food and beverage industry, and they should also develop a long-term strategic action plan. Additionally, in the post COVID-19 era, managers, via agreements with employees, should undertake other initiatives to increase the productivity of their companies, such as additional shifts, extended office hours, and working on weekends and holidays. Such initiatives can enhance the food and beverage industry’s contribution to the national GDP.

6 Conclusions and future research directions

This study explores the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as strategies for dealing with those impacts, in the food and beverage industry in Bangladesh. The results show that, in the short term, the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic include more expired products, shortage of working capital and hence difficulty in carrying out operational expenses, delay in opening LCs, and closures of distributors’ operations. The impacts will no doubt continue for a more extended period, and in the medium-to-long term, those impacts are likely to include a reduction in ROI, job cuts in the industry, negative relationships with traders, a restructuring of supply chains focusing on online trade, and an overall decrease of the industry’s contribution to GDP. The research also reveals several strategies that can be adopted to minimize the impacts. These strategies include implementation of the FEFO method, product rotation within and across retail stores, a partial sacrifice of remuneration agreed to by both employees and employers, extended office hours and a partial opening of operations on weekends and holidays in the post COVID-19 era, short-term incentives for distributors, minimizing trade promotion costs, and developing infrastructure to boost online sales.

The contribution of this study is remarkable because this is the first study to explore comprehensively the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and beverage industry and to provide potential ways of mitigating those impacts. The findings of this study have substantial relevance for both theory and practice. Not only do we enhance the literature on disruptions in the food and beverage industry; what is more, by taking Bangladesh as the subject of the study, we also supplement the literature on this industry in the context of emerging economies (Tumpa et al. 2019 ). The findings provide managers of the food and beverage industry with a clear understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, as well as guidelines on how to deal with those impacts.

While the study makes a substantial contribution in these areas, a few limitations of our research can be noted. First, the study used a case-study approach by drawing on data collected via interviews. Although all the necessary steps have been undertaken in the research design stage to improve the precision and reliability of the findings, nonetheless, the study lacks generalizability due to the nature of the research methodology we used (Yin 2009 ). Therefore, in the future, a large-scale survey could be undertaken to verify the strategies provided in this research and to increase the generalizability of the findings. Second, the study relies on data collected from large organizations operating in the food and beverage industry in Bangladesh. Given that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) versus large organizations vary in their operations and strategies (Karuppiah et al. 2020 ), the findings may not completely reflect the situation among SMEs. Therefore, a future study could explore the impacts and strategies in the context of SMEs or compare the findings for large firms with those for SMEs. Moreover, given that the impacts of the pandemic vary across industries (Paul & Chowdhury 2020b ), future studies could explore industry-wise impacts to explore how COVID-19 pandemic has impacted each industry.

Finally, some of the short-term impacts and medium-to-long-term impacts seem correlated. For example, lower sales and an increase in expired products certainly reduce the ROI. However, the study is silent on this issue, and the interrelationships among the factors examined are beyond the objectives of this study. Future research should consider these interrelationships, which may provide important directions when it comes to formulating robust action plans. In addition, the present study does not attempt a ranking of the impacts and strategies. A future study investigating the relative importance of the strategies might be useful for the companies deciding where they should focus their efforts first, as they, along with the rest of the industry, seek to recover from the pandemic.

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Interview Protocol

1.1 opening.

Thank you so much for your valuable time. First, I would like to briefly explain the research theme to you. The broad objectives of this research are twofold: (1) to explore the short-term and medium-to-long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the food and beverage industry; and (2) to identify potential strategies for reducing the impacts.

You have been selected as a respondent in this study because you are involved in managing the operational activities of a food and beverage manufacturing firm that we are using as a representative company in our study. We sincerely believe your knowledge and practical experience with managing the operational activities of the firm can substantially contribute to achieving the aims of this study.

Our interview with you will be open-ended. You will respond to the questions based on your experiences and knowledge; hence, there are no right and wrong answers to any question. The anonymity and confidentiality of your response will be strictly maintained. You also can withdraw from this project at any time without having to explain your reasons for doing so.

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What is your role in the supply chain/position?

How long have you been working for this organization?

How many employees do you have?

What products does your company manufacture?

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the operations of your company?

Would you please describe the short-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on your company?

You talk about short-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on your firm, such as .... How can your company reduce each of these impacts?

What are the medium-to-long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on your company?

You talk about the medium-to-long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on your firm. How can your company reduce each of these impacts?

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I would like to thank you again for your time. Please let me know if you need a copy of this study when it is completed in the near future. Moreover, please feel free to contact me if you have any further queries about our research.

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Chowdhury, M., Sarkar, A., Paul, S.K. et al. A case study on strategies to deal with the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in the food and beverage industry. Oper Manag Res 15 , 166–178 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12063-020-00166-9

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Restaurants and robots: public preferences for robot food and beverage services

Journal of Tourism Futures

ISSN : 2055-5911

Article publication date: 22 April 2022

Issue publication date: 23 May 2023

The hospitality industry in developed countries is under pressure due to labor shortages and it is likely more food and beverage operations will have to be automated in the future. This research investigates the public’s perceptions of the use of robots in food and beverage operations to learn about how the public perceives automation in food and beverage.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from a survey disseminated online in 12 languages, resulting in a sample of 1,579 respondents. The data were analyzed using factor analysis and OLS regressions.

The data also reveal that generally positive attitudes toward the use of robots in tourism and hospitality is a strong indicator of positive attitudes toward the use of robots in an F&B setting. The data also illustrate that the public’s perception of appropriateness of the use of robots in F&B operations is positively related to robots’ perceived reliability, functionality and advantages compared to human employees.

Research limitations/implications

The implications illustrate that the public seems to be generally accepting robots in food and beverage operations, even considering the public’s understanding and acceptance of the limitations of such technologies.

Practical implications

The research suggests that a critical element in terms of incorporating automation into future food and beverage operations is encouraging consumers to have generally positive attitudes toward the use of robots in hospitality and tourism industries.

Originality/value

This survey is based upon the data gathered in multiple countries to learn about how individuals perceive the use of robots in food and beverage operations, illustrating the attitudes that will assist or hinder the automation of this service industry.

• Attitudes toward robots
• Acceptance of robotic technologies

Ivanov, S. and Webster, C. (2023), "Restaurants and robots: public preferences for robot food and beverage services", Journal of Tourism Futures , Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 229-239. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-12-2021-0264

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Stanislav Ivanov and Craig Webster

Published in Journal of Tourism Futures . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode .

Introduction

By 2020, only a century after the invention of the word “robot” ( NPR, 2011 ), robots were responsible for much manufacturing ( Ross et al. , 2018 ) and are increasingly involved in the service economy ( Belanche et al. , 2020 ; Wirtz et al. , 2018 ). However, it has only been in recent years that robots have been increasingly used to provide services to hospitality guests ( Ivanov and Webster, 2019a ). The integration of automation technologies in tourism and hospitality is inevitable because of the advancement of technology ( Mihelj et al. , 2019 ) as well as demographic factors ( Webster, 2021 ) that limit the human labor available for service industries. Here we discuss the use of robots in hospitality and explain several hypotheses with regard to perceptions of the use of robots in food and beverage operations. Then, we explain the data collection on the topic, analyze the data with regard to the hypotheses and conclude explaining how the findings inform the incorporation of robots into food and beverage operations in the future.

Currently, there is a growing body of research on robots in tourism and hospitality (see, for example, Murphy et al. , 2017 ; Samala et al. , 2020 ; Tung and Au, 2018 ; Tuomi et al. , 2021 ), including in food and beverage operations (e.g. Berezina et al. , 2019 ; Cha, 2020 ; Lee et al. , 2018 ; Fusté-Forné, 2021 ; Hwang et al. , 2020 ; Omar Parvez and Cobanoglu, 2021 ; Seyitoğlu and Ivanov, 2020 ; Seyitoğlu et al. , 2021 ; Tuomi et al. , 2019 ; Zemke et al. , 2020 ; Zhu and Chang, 2020 ). Previous studies have shown that robots can be used to automate dirty, dull, repetitive and dangerous jobs as well as create entertaining and novel experiences for tourists. Specifically, investigating the use of robots for food and beverage is critical since such operations are labor-intensive, critical to the hospitality industry, and typically suffer from high turnover rates. The automation of the delivery of food and beverage services may alleviate many of the headaches that managers in hospitality face and such automation has already been used in the food industry to reduce labor costs ( Ivanov and Webster, 2019b ) and to provide better services ( Kincaid and Baloglu, 2005 ). While there is a great deal of speculation about issues linked with the incorporation of automation technologies into food and beverage operations (see, for example, Berezina et al. , 2019 ), much of what is known about the perceptions of managers and customers based upon empirical data is from small samples of semi-structured interviews ( Seyitoğlu et al. , 2021 ; Tuomi et al. , 2021 ), case studies ( Seyitoğlu and Ivanov, 2020 ), or single-country surveys ( Cha, 2020 ; Hwang et al. , 2020 ). Thus, understanding the current perceptions of the public with regard to automated hospitality services is necessary to understand how to better implement fuller automation into hospitality operations, something that will be needed in the not-so-distant future due to labor shortages and the increasing effectiveness of the technology.

This research note aims to identify the F&B tasks that customers consider as appropriate for robotization and the drivers of the perceived appropriateness of robot use in F&B operations. More specifically, the paper looks at the role of perceived robot reliability, functionality, advantages and disadvantages compared to human employees, and demographic characteristics of respondents and their impact on the perceived appropriateness of robot use in F&B operations. In this way, the research will help managers address the factors that hinder or facilitate the implementation of the robot in F&B operations. Functionality of a robot shows that it possesses the technical features (e.g. sensors, actuators), software and overall design that allow it to implement its intended tasks (e.g. cook food, make a cocktail, serve dish) while a robot’s reliability shows how well it will perform these tasks. That is why, previous studies have found that the reliability and functionality of robots are significant components of the trust in robots ( Tussyadiah et al. , 2020 ). Additionally, reliability and functionality are positively related to the intentions of tourists to use robots ( Tussyadiah et al. , 2017 ). The perceived advantages and disadvantages of robots compared to humans show how respondents perceive the potential provider of a particular tourism/hospitality service (a robot or a human employee). The perceived advantages of robots compared to human employees are found to have a positive relationship with the attitudes toward the use of robots in a hotel; the perceived disadvantages of robots have a negative effect, but it is washed out when the general attitudes toward robots are included in the regression models ( Ivanov et al. , 2018 ). Positive relationship between the perceived advantages and the perceived appropriateness of robot application in museums was recently reported by Webster and Ivanov (2022) . The same study showed that the respondents who had more positive attitudes toward robots considered that robots are appropriate for implementation in museum context. Attitudes are a significant driver of customer acceptance of service robot as well ( Zhong et al. , 2021 ).

Perceived robot reliability is positively related to the appropriateness of robot use in F&B operations.

Perceived robot functionality is positively related to the appropriateness of robot use in F&B operations.

Perceived robot advantages compared to human employees are positively related to the appropriateness of robot use in F&B operations.

Perceived robot disadvantages compared to human employees are negatively related to the appropriateness of robot use in F&B operations.

The attitude toward service robots in travel, tourism and hospitality is positively related to the appropriateness of robot use in F&B operations.

Methodology

To investigate the public’s perceptions of the use of robots in travel, tourism and hospitality, a global survey was run from March 2018 to October 2019. The survey was developed in English and subsequently translated into 11 other languages to make it accessible to as many people globally as possible. The survey questions were developed with the Technology Acceptance Model ( Venkatesh and Davis, 2000 ) in mind while looking specifically into the question of how technology’s incorporation into the tourism and hospitality ecosystem would be expected to be perceived by consumers of tourism and hospitality services. Questions pertaining to the advantages and disadvantages of robot labor were adapted and expanded from Ivanov et al. (2018) .

To ensure that translations were accurate, native speakers translated the survey based on the original English language version. The survey was sponsored, allowing for researchers to offer incentives for participation in the survey, to ensure higher response rates. The incentive for participation was five gift cards that were given to those who completed the survey and wished to be considered for a drawing enabling each person who had indicated interest to win a 100$ gift card. The funds for the incentive were provided by a research firm that supported the research to learn about consumer perceptions of automation in the industry. Permission was given by a US university’s IRB board, permitting the survey to be launched and it was disseminated via social media and emails globally. The authors’ social media and email contacts were the primary means by which the survey link was disseminated, with colleagues encouraged to forward the link to others.

This paper’s sample includes 1,579 respondents who answered the questions related to the application of robots in food and beverage operations and had answered all questions asked in the survey. Since it was disseminated online, it would be impossible to estimate how many people saw the link but refused to take the survey, although there was a significant number who took part in the survey and terminated the survey at some point. Those that did not answer the relevant questions for this analysis were removed from the sample for this particular analysis. Table 1 illustrates the major characteristics of the sample.

To learn about perceptions toward the use of robots in food and beverage operations, several questions were asked, with responses being recorded with a seven-point scale. Respondents to the survey were asked, “ Please indicate which activities do you personally consider as appropriate to be performed by service robots in travel, tourism, and hospitality ,” with responses of different activities in the food and beverage operations of hospitality. Table 2 illustrates the questions asked and the mean responses to the questions, based upon the seven-point scale. The scale consisted of one extreme “1 = Extremely inappropriate” and the other extreme “7 = Extremely appropriate.” Several questions were also asked with regard to the reliability and functionality of robots as well as questions with regard to the advantages and disadvantages of robots relative to human employees, using a seven-point Likert scale.

In regressions, demographic data were added in the hopes that they would give insight into the perceptions of the appropriateness of using robots in food and beverage operations. The gender, age and education levels of the respondents were used as independent variables. However, in addition, the respondents perceived economic well-being and reported that frequency of travel was also added to the regressions. The respondent’s subjective perception of economic well-being was added instead of a measure for their income levels, as income levels are a sensitive issue tending to lead to a refusal to answer. Such monetary data are hard to compare against respondents from many different countries. In addition, travel frequency was added, as it was suspected that frequent travelers may have a different relationship with hospitality industries than those who travel less frequently.

Table 2 illustrates that respondents were most receptive to robots taking orders for room service ( m  = 5.37), followed by cleaning the table ( m  = 5.19), delivering food and drinks in room service ( m  = 5.16), and providing information about the menu ( m  = 5.14). The respondents were least receptive to robots cooking food ( m  = 3.77). These data show that respondents see some differences between the various tasks that they feel are appropriate for robots to do concerning food and beverage. The paired samples’ t -test values showed that the differences between the mean responses to taking orders for room service, cooking food and the other tasks were statistically significant at p  < 0.001. The data illustrate that the respondents generally seem to believe that cooking food is the task that is best left to humans while taking orders, cleaning tables, supplying information, and delivering food to guests could be delegated to robots.

Exploratory factor analysis was also employed and the results are shown in Table 2 , illustrating that the data could be condensed into five meaningful factors. Table 3 presents the discriminant validity matrix. The results show that the constructs have high internal consistency and discriminant validity.

For a full analysis of the perceived appropriateness of robot application in the food and beverage industries, multiple OLS regressions were performed and the results are reported in Table 4 . The first model used two independent variables – reliability and functionality of robots. The model seems to have relatively high levels of predictability, with an adjusted R-squared of 0.324, as Table 4 illustrates. Also, perceptions toward the reliability and functionality of robots are systematically and positively related to the perceived appropriateness of using robots in food and beverage operations, regardless of the control variables added.

The other regressions are also insightful, illustrating the additional power of the regressions given the added independent variables. The second model illustrates that the addition of two independent variables that indicate perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of robots compared to human employees is also positively related to the dependent variable. The subsequent models demonstrate some interesting findings, showing that the addition of the variable to measure a general attitude toward robots seems to have two substantial impacts. First, the independent variable that indicates a generally positive attitude toward robots increases the adjusted R-squared value to 0.41 (Models 3 and 4). Another interesting finding is that the addition of the demographic data suggests that only the age of respondents is associated with the dependent variables (Model 4). Most of the demographic variables failed to show any relationship with the dependent variable, apart from the age of respondents, showing that the younger respondents were more accepting of the use of robots in food and beverage operations.

In general, the regressions illustrate that the perceived functionality and reliability of robots are positively associated with the perceived appropriateness of the use of robots for food and beverage operations, providing support to hypotheses H1 and H2 . Furthermore, the findings show that the perceived advantages of robots compared to employees are strongly and positively related to the perceived appropriateness of their application in the F&B context in all three models with that variable, while the perceived disadvantages are negatively related (the variable was reverse coded); thus supporting H3 and H4 . Moreover, the attitude toward the use of robots in travel, tourism and hospitality is positively related to the perceived appropriateness of robot use in F&B, hence supporting H5 . Therefore, the respondents accept the use of robots in F&B operations when they trust the reliability and functionality of the robots, their advantages over human employees, and when they have generally positive attitudes toward robots in tourism, while the perceived disadvantages of robots decrease respondents’ acceptance of service robots in F&B.

Discussion and conclusion

The findings illustrate a great deal in regard to the perceptions of the use of robots in food and beverage operations. The results show that one of the hardest things to sell to the public will be that cooking will be done by robots. While previous research has researched scenarios in which robots were involved in food production and delivery ( Seo and Jee, 2021 ), any concerns about specific tasks done by robots in the scenarios were not explored. Thus, the findings in this current research illustrate a hesitancy of the public to accept robots doing the specific task of cooking, since the methodology allowed for an assessment of the consumers’ acceptance of using technology for specific tasks in a food and beverage ecosystem. This also stands in contrast with previous research that was based upon the viewpoints of scholars and robot manufacturers, as Berezina et al. ’s (2019) exploration of the topic. It may be noted that there may be a commonly held belief among the public that the cooking of food requires not just the human’s ability to mechanically manipulate and create foods but some sort of spiritual/artistic element. Overcoming this may be easier than one would expect if the cooking of food is presented as something that is fun to watch and can result in a tasty result. Demystifying the cult of the celebrity chef will face an uphill battle, though, as it may be that the public has a love for their celebrity chefs, seeing them as entertainment ( Caraher et al. , 2000 ; Demirkol and Cifci, 2020 ), so it may be that robotic chefs may also be used as entertainment. This feeds into a larger issue with regard to automation versus authenticity in service industries ( Seyitoğlu, 2021 ), with different markets and different consumers demanding automation or authentic service provision by humans.

Consistent with previous studies, the general attitudes toward robots are associated with the particular use of robots in service industries (see, for example, Malchus et al. , 2013 ; Ivanov et al. , 2018 ). This suggests that to understand whether a person accepts the application of robots in a specific context (e.g. in F&B operations), it is necessary to learn about a person’s general attitude toward robots.

Additionally, the results show that gender does not play a role in influencing attitudes toward the use of robots in food and beverage operations. While much of the research (see, for example, Hudson et al. , 2017 ; Katz and Halpern, 2014 ; Pochwatko et al. , 2015 ) suggests that gender conditions attitudes toward robots, the findings in this research suggest that food and beverage operations may be quite different from many other applications of robots, without having substantial gender differences in perceptions. The data also suggest that there is a generational rift, illustrating that younger people are more accepting of robotic technologies in F&B operations. As such, this research fits neatly into the current research that looks into how different age groups perceive automation technologies (see, for example, Ezer et al. , 2009 ; Xu et al. , 2015 ), although some findings contend that age differences may not account for many of the differences in perception of robots ( Backonja et al. , 2018 ). At any rate, it seems that the generational rift and perceptions of people of different ages warrant further investigation.

The main limitation of this research is that data collection was finalized just before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It may be that the global pandemic has changed the public’s perceptions of service robots in F&B operations. That is why future research needs to reassess the perceptions to check whether they have changed. Future research should explore a great deal more regarding the use of automation technologies in food and beverage since there is a predictable shortage of available labor in developed countries ( Webster, 2021 ). Future research may focus on the willingness to pay for robot-delivered F&B services and the role of robots in creating memorable F&B experiences.

All-in-all, this research note illustrates that the further automation of food and beverage will occur upon the foundation of a population that seems to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of more automated operations. In terms of theory and methodology, the findings illustrate the value of breaking down operations into tasks that may be automated. Such a methodology illustrates that some specific tasks are deemed by the public as being more acceptable for robots to do. This suggests that future research should investigate tasks, rather than scenarios with robots involved, as the public seems to have a somewhat different view of the use of robots based upon tasks, rather than grand scenarios in which a person has to imagine being served food. What is especially interesting is that the findings highlight that the public seems to recognize the disadvantages of robots in such operations but it does not seem to undermine the general attitude toward the appropriateness of the use of such technology. In terms of actionable elements from the research, it seems that cultivating a population that has generally positive attitudes toward service robots will play a helpful role in terms of allowing for robots to become more integrated into food and beverage operations. However, there is also an indication that the public, in general, will be willing to accept greater automation of food and beverage services depending upon what the task is, meaning that some tasks will not just be easier to automate but will also have less consumer resistance to the use of robots for such tasks.

Sample’s characteristics

Exploratory factor analysis

Note(s): 1. Standard errors in square brackets; 2. Coding: Gender : 0 – Female. 1 – Male; Economic well-being : 1 – Much lower than the average for the country, 7 – Much higher than the average for the country; ( r ) – reverse coding. 3. *** Significant at p  < 0.001. ** Significant at p  < 0.01. * Significant at p  < 0.05

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank Ulrike Gretzel, Katerina Berezina, Iis Tussyadiah, Jamie Murphy, Dimitrios Buhalis, and Cihan Cobanoglu for their valuable comments on the preliminary drafts of the questionnaire. The authors also thank Sofya Yanko, Katerina Berezina, Nadia Malenkina, Raul Hernandez Martin, Antoaneta Topalova, Florian Aubke, Nedra Bahri, Frederic Dimanche, Rosanna Leung, Kwang-Ho Lee, Minako Okada, Isa Vieira, Jean Max Tavares, Seden Dogan, and Isabella Ye for their time and efforts in the translation of the questionnaire. Financial support for electronic vouchers used as incentives for the research was provided by Zangador ltd. ( https://www.zangador.eu ). The authors would also like to thank Hosco ( https://www.hosco.com ) and Industrial Engineering & Design ( https://www.facebook.com/Ind.eng.design ) for their support in the distribution of the link to the online questionnaire.

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• Open access
• Published: 22 June 2018

The effectiveness of the food and beverage industry’s self-established uniform nutrition criteria at improving the healthfulness of food advertising viewed by Canadian children on television

• Monique Potvin Kent 1 ,
• Jennifer R. Smith 1 ,
• Elise Pauzé 1 &
• Mary L’Abbé 2  

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity volume  15 , Article number:  57 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

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Food and beverage marketing has been identified as an environmental determinant of childhood obesity. The purpose of this study is to assess whether the Uniform Nutrition Criteria established and implemented by companies participating in the self-regulatory Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI) had an impact on the healthfulness of food and beverage advertising during television programming with a high share of children in the viewing audience.

Data on food advertising were licensed from Numeris for 27 television stations for Toronto for May 2013 and May 2016 (i.e. before and after the implementation of the nutrition criteria). First, television programs that had a child audience share of ≥35% (when the nutrition criteria applied) were identified. Ten percent of these programs were randomly selected and included in the study. After identifying the food and beverage ads that aired during these programs, the nutritional information of advertised products was collected and their healthfulness was assessed using the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and UK Nutrient Profile Models (NPM). The healthfulness of CAI products advertised in May 2013 and 2016 was compared using Chi-square tests.

Although in May 2016, products advertised by CAI companies were more likely to be categorized as healthier by the UK NPM (21.5% versus 6.7%, χ 2 (1) = 12.1, p  = 000) compared to those advertised in May 2013, the frequency of advertised products considered less healthy in May 2016 remained very high (78.5%) and comparable to that of products advertised by companies not participating in the CAI (80.0% categorized as less healthy). Furthermore, in both May 2013 and May 2016, 99–100% of CAI advertisements featured products deemed excessive in either fat (total, saturated, trans), sodium or free sugars according to the PAHO NPM.

Conclusions

Despite modest improvements noted after the implementation of the CAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria, the healthfulness of most products advertised during programs with a high share of children in the viewing audience remains poor. Mandatory regulations are needed.

Food and beverage marketing has been identified as one factor driving the upward trend in global obesity rates among children [ 1 , 2 ]. Indeed, an extensive body of research has shown that children’s exposure to this marketing, much of which promotes food and beverages of low nutritional quality, influences their dietary preferences, purchasing behaviors, and consumption patterns [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Based on this evidence, the World Health Organization has urged countries to develop policies to protect children from the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages [ 5 ].

In Canada, childhood obesity has tripled over the last three decades and currently more than 30% of children and youth have excess weight or obesity [ 6 ]. In the province of Quebec, commercial advertising to children has been banned since the 1980s. In all other provinces in Canada, food and beverage marketing to children is self-regulated by industry. In 2007, the Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI) was implemented by 16 food companies. Currently 18 companies participate including Coca Cola, Danone, General Mills, McDonald’s, and Nestlé, among others (see Table  1 ) [ 7 ]. Under this initiative, eleven companies have committed to not advertise to children less than 12 years old while the remainder have pledged to exclusively advertise “better-for-you” products (as defined by the companies themselves) in various media including television [ 8 ]. Each company established what constituted advertising to children, determined its own nutrition criteria defining which products are healthy enough to advertise to children, and set child audience thresholds that range from 25 to 35% (i.e. the percentage of the audience that must consist of children under 12 years of age before the pledges apply). For example, Hershey Canada has pledged to not advertise at all during television programs where children make-up 30% of the audience, while Kellogg’s has committed to only advertise “better-for-you” products, such as Froot Loops cereal, when children make-up 35% or more of the viewing audience [ 8 ].

Since its implementation, the CAI has been criticized for low participation rates, high child audience thresholds, lax nutritional standards, and very narrow definitions of what constitutes advertising to children [ 9 ]. Research in Canada has concluded that the CAI is insufficiently protecting children from food and beverage marketing on television and the Internet [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Indeed, Canadian children (outside of Quebec) view on average between 4 and 7 food ads per hour per station [ 15 , 16 ], and the majority of products advertised are unhealthy and high in sugar, fat and sodium [ 16 ]. Evaluations conducted before and after the implementation of the CAI have shown that these self-regulatory pledges are not limiting children’s exposure to food and beverage advertising on television. In fact, children’s exposure to this type of advertising increased between 2006 and 2009 [ 11 ] and the healthfulness of advertised products on children’s specialty channels did not improve [ 9 ].

In 2014, Uniform Nutrition Criteria were developed by participating CAI companies and these were fully implemented by December 2015 [ 7 ]. These criteria, based on 18 different nutritional recommendations, specify nutrition criteria for 8 product categories including: milk and alternatives, grains, soups, meat and alternatives, vegetables and fruit, occasional snacks, mixed dishes, and meals on the go. No nutrition criteria were established for chocolate, candy, and soft drinks because, as stated by the CAI, these foods would not be advertised to children under the age of 12. Nutrients to limit, as identified in the Uniform Nutrition Criteria, include calories, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and total sugars while nutrients to encourage include vitamin D, calcium, potassium, and fibre [ 7 ]. A total of 26 products are listed as compliant with the Uniform Nutrition Criteria and approved for advertising to children [ 8 ].

Though Advertising Standards Canada (ASC), the organization that administers the CAI, undertakes a yearly compliance review [ 8 ], no research to date has evaluated the impact of these new criteria using nutrient profile models used and accepted in the research community. The objective of this study was to fill this gap and assess whether the CAI Uniform Nutrition Criteria has improved the healthfulness of food/beverage advertising during television programming where children make-up a large share of the viewing audience. It was hypothesized that, after its implementation, the Uniform Nutrition Criteria would improve the healthfulness of the advertising seen by children during programming with a high share of children in the viewing audience. It was also hypothesized that the healthfulness of products advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 would be significantly better during television programs with a child audience share of at least 35%, where the new nutrition criteria applied, compared to television programs with a lower child audience share, where it did not.

A quasi-experimental pre-post design with a control group was used in this study to compare the nutritional quality of foods/beverages advertised to children aged 2–11 when viewership of this age group was equal to or greater than 35% in May 2013 (before the development of the Uniform Nutrition Criteria) and in May 2016 (after its implementation). The control group consisted of the nutritional quality of food/beverage advertisements in May 2016 when child viewership ranged from 15 to 34.9%.

Television ratings data were obtained under license for 19 food categories from Numeris for May 2013 and May 2016 for 27 television stations (9 conventional and 18 speciality channels) for Toronto, the largest broadcast audience in Canada. These food categories (defined in Table  2 ) were selected as they are those that are the most advertised to children [ 9 , 12 , 17 ]. The month of May was selected as there are no holidays in this month that could potentially distort advertising expenditures.

Using Nielsen Media Research Borealis ™ analytical software, it was determined which television programs had a child viewership of 15 to 34.9% and which had a viewership of ≥35%. The lower limit of 15% was chosen because it is the child viewership threshold applied in the province of Quebec, where all commercial advertising to children under the age of 13 has been legally prohibited since 1980 [ 18 ]. Children included those between the ages of 2 and 11 as the CAI guidelines apply to children under 12 years of age. The ≥ 35% level was selected as most CAI companies ( n  = 15) have a viewership threshold of 35% meaning that 35% of the audience must consist of children 2–11 years old before the CAI pledges apply. A total of 1536 television programs in May 2013 and 1289 in May 2016 met the ≥35% child viewership criteria while 1832 programs met the 15–34.9% viewership criteria for May 2016 (Table  3 ). For reasons pertaining to feasibility including time and resource constraints, only 10 % of these program samples were selected using a random number generator and were included in study. Using Nielsen Media Research Spotwatch™ software, the food/beverage ads that appeared during the first 30 min of each of these programs were identified.

Each food advertisement was classified as a product ad (if a food and/or beverage were featured) or as a brand ad (if no specific product was featured). Each ad was also classified as to whether it belonged to a company participating in the CAI as of November 2016 (CAI) or not (non-CAI).

Nutritional analysis

The nutrition information of products featured in each ad was collected. Nutrition data for the foods advertised in May 2013 was taken from the Food Label Information Program (FLIP) [ 19 ] which is a branded food composition database. FLIP data from 2013 contains information on ~ 15,500 products from the four largest national retailers by sales (Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Safeway), representing approximately 75% of the Canadian food retail market share. Nutrition information for products advertised in May 2013 not found in the FLIP database (essentially fast food and restaurant foods) and those advertised in May 2016 was collected, in order of priority, from Canadian company websites, the Nutrition Fact table on the product found in store, U.S. company websites, or the Canadian Nutrient File.

Collected information included: calories (kcal), total fat (g), saturated fat (g), trans fat (g), sodium (mg), carbohydrate (g), fibre (g), sugars (g), and protein (g) per stated serving size. The specific density (g/mL) of beverages was used to convert servings from millilitres to grams [ 20 ]. All nutrition information was then converted to 100 g servings.

The healthfulness of advertised foods and beverages was assessed using two nutrient profile models namely, the Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Profile Model (PAHO NPM) [ 21 ] and the UK Nutrient Profile Model (UK NPM) [ 22 ]. The former was selected as it considers only negative nutrients (e.g. sodium, free sugars, total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat) and classifies foods more stringently while the latter was selected as it considers both positive and negative nutrients and has been shown to classify foods less stringently and consistently with decisions made by dietitians [ 23 ]. The UK NPM has also shown to have good construct, convergent, and discriminate validity [ 24 ].

The PAHO NPM was used to classify advertised food/beverages according to whether they were excessive in total fat (≥30% of total energy from total fat), saturated fat (≥ 10% of total energy), trans fats (≥ 1% of total energy), sodium (≥ 1 mg per kcal) or free sugars (≥ 10% of total energy) [ 21 ]. Foods were also classified as excessive or not in at least one of these nutrients. The PAHO NPM was modified by applying it to all foods, including unprocessed foods, rather than applying it to processed or ultra-processed foods only. The free sugar content of foods was estimated using formulas suggested by the PAHO NPM [ 21 ].

The UK NPM, was also used to assess the healthfulness of advertised foods in May 2013 and May 2016 using the three-step process developed by the Food Standards Agency in the UK [ 22 ]. This model scores foods based on their content in energy, saturated fat, total sugar, sodium, fruit/vegetable/nut, fibre, and protein per 100 g serving. Foods that score 4 points or more and beverages that score 1 point or more are categorized as ‘less healthy’ [ 22 ]. Foods that do not fall into this category are defined as ‘healthier’.

When multiple food products were shown in the same advertisement, the ad was classified as excessive in fat, sodium and/or sugar as assessed by the PAHO NPM or as less healthy according the UK NPM if it featured at least one product that was categorized as such.

Data analysis

Nielsen’s 19 food categories were condensed by grouping similar products to create 9 more meaningful categories. These included: cold cereal; candy and chocolate; cakes, cookies and ice cream; juice, soft drinks (regular and diet), sports drinks and energy drinks; pizza; compartment snack foods and portable snacks; restaurants (fast food and non-fast food); cheese; and yogurt. The frequency of ads by food categories and CAI participation were tabulated and the percentage change between May 2013 and May 2016 was calculated. Statistical tests (Mann-Whitney U test) compared the energy, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, carbohydrates, sugar, protein, fibre, and sodium content per 100 g serving of foods and beverages featured in May 2013 advertisements to those in May 2016 for CAI and non-CAI companies. When ads featured multiple products, the nutrition information for the least healthy product as assessed by the UK NPM (i.e. the product with the highest score) was used for this analysis. If several products within the same ad tied for the highest score, one product was randomly selected using a random number generator. Chi-square tests were conducted to determine if the healthfulness of advertised foods as classified by the PAHO and UK NPMs during programming with a high child audience share changed between May 2013 and May 2016. The Mann-Whitney U and Chi-square tests described above were conducted for the ≥35% child viewership sample. Further comparisons were made between products advertised by CAI companies when child viewership was 15–34.9% and ≥ 35% in May 2016. The healthfulness of products advertised in May 2013 and May 2016 when child viewership was at least 35% was also compared by food category using Fisher Exact Tests.

Product versus brand advertising

In May 2016, 0.5% ( n  = 2) and 2.1% ( n  = 7) of total ads were brand advertisements in the 15–34.9% and ≥ 35% child viewership samples, respectively. The remainder were products ads. There were no brand ads in the 35% viewership sample in May 2013.

Frequency of food/beverage advertising per food category in May 2013 and in May 2016 (≥35% sample)

Overall, the frequency of food/beverage advertising was 38.0% higher in May 2016 compared to May 2013. The most frequently advertised product categories in May 2016 (as shown in Table  4 ) were restaurants (33.8% of total ads; 92.9% of which were fast food), candy and chocolate (18.0%), and cold cereal (15.3%). Among beverage categories advertised in May 2016 ( n  = 14), 81.3% were for juices, drinks, and nectars, 12.5% were for regular soft drinks, and 6.3% were for energy drinks (data not shown). In total, yogurt advertising was up by 217%, cold cereal advertising was up approximately 113%, while cheese advertising was up 81%, snack advertising was up 33%, and restaurant advertising was up 40% in May 2016 compared to May 2013. Advertising for fast food restaurants exclusively increased by 40.0% from May 2013 ( n  = 75) to May 2016 ( n  = 105) (data not shown).

Among CAI companies, the frequency of food/beverage advertisements was 55.8% higher in May 2016 compared to May 2013. The CAI product categories that were the most frequently advertised in May 2016 were cold cereals (27.3%), restaurants (19.3%; all of which were for fast food) and candy and chocolate (16.6%). The largest increases in CAI advertising between May 2013 and May 2016 were for yogurt (533%), cheese (125%), cold cereals (113%), and juice and soft drinks (50%). Restaurant advertising, comprised entirely of fast food advertisements, increased 38.5% in May 2016 compared to May 2013.

Nutrient content per 100 g of foods/beverages advertised in May 2013 and May 2016 (≥35% sample)

Overall, products advertised in May 2016 when child viewership was at least 35% contained more sodium (U = 44,057, z = 2.41, p  = .016, r  = 0.10), trans fat (U = 45,950, z = 3.78, p  = .000, r  = 0.16), fibre (U = 44,953, z = 3.12, p  = 002, r  = 0.13), and protein (U = 46,308, z = 3.58, p = .000, r  = 0.15) per 100 g serving compared to those advertised in May 2013 (Table  5 ). In May 2016, products advertised by CAI companies contained fewer calories (U = 8962, z = − 2.92, p  = .004, r  = − 0.17) and total fat (U = 9628, z = − 2.03, p  = .042, r  = − 0.12) per 100 g serving than in May 2013.

Healthfulness of foods advertised in May 2013 and May 2016 (≥35% sample)

Overall in 2016, according to the PAHO criteria, 68.4% of advertisements featured foods/beverages that were excessive in free sugar, 59.8% were excessive in total fat, 59.5% were excessive in sodium, 50.3% were excessive in saturated fat, and 29.1% were excessive in trans fats as shown in Table  6 . According to the PAHO criteria, 100% of food advertisements in 2016 featured products classified as excessive in at least one of these nutrients while according to the UK NPM, 79.1% of ads featured products that were classified as ‘less healthy’. In May 2016, it was 1.5 times more likely that food advertisements were deemed excessive in total fat (49.8% versus 59.8%, χ 2 (1) = 5.64, p  = .018) compared to those that aired in May 2013. Advertisements in May 2016 were also 1.7 times more likely to be deemed excessive in trans fat (19.9% versus 29.1%, χ 2 (1) = 6.25, p  = .012) and sodium (46.5% versus 59.5%, χ 2 (1) = 9.48, p  = .002) compared to May 2013. Conversely, advertisements in May 2016 were 1.7 times less likely to feature food deemed less healthy by the UK NPM compared to May 2013 (86.7% versus 79.1%, χ 2 (1) = 5.48, p  = .019).

Among CAI companies, it was 2.9 and 1.8 times more likely that advertisements airing in May 2016 featured a product classified as excessive in trans fat (10.0% versus 24.2%, χ 2 (1) = 9.69,p = .002) and sodium (44.2% versus 58.6%, χ 2 (1) = 6.10, p  = .014), respectively, compared to those advertised in May 2013. In both time periods, 99–100% of CAI advertisements featured products that were classified as excessive in at least one nutrient according to the PAHO NPM however the frequency of advertisements featuring less healthy products as per the UK NPM was significantly lower in May 2016 compared to May 2013 (93.3% versus 78.5%, χ 2 (1) = 12.1, p  = .000).

Healthfulness of products advertised in May 2013 and May 2016 by food category (≥35% sample)

Cold cereals advertised in May 2016, all of which belonged to CAI companies, were more likely to be excessive in sodium compared to those advertised in May 2013 (98.0% versus 33.3%, p = .000) As for restaurants, foods advertised by CAI companies (i.e. McDonald’s) in May 2016 were less likely to be deemed less healthy (88.5% versus 42.9%, p  = .010) compared to those advertised in May 2013. This was also true for the total sample of restaurant advertisements (81.3% versus 63.6%, p = .010) (data not shown).

Nutrient content per 100 g of foods/beverages advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 (≥35% vs. 15–34.9% sample)

According to Mann-Whitney U tests, foods/beverages advertised by CAI companies contained more sugar (Mdn = 10.9 g and 20.0 g, U = 24,994, z = 2.62, p  = .009, r  = 0.13) and protein (Mdn = 5.0 g and 6.7 g, U = 24,212, z = 1.99, p  = .047, r  = 0.10) per 100 g serving when child viewership was 35% or higher compared to 15–34.5% (Table  7 ).

Healthfulness of foods advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 (≥35% versus 15–34.9% sample)

There were no statistically significant differences in the healthfulness of products advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 as per the PAHO and UK NPMs when child viewership was ≥35% and 15–34.9% (Table  8 ).

Impact of the Uniform Nutrition Criteria

As hypothesised, when using the less stringent UK NPM, the products advertised during television programming with a high child audience share were marginally healthier in May 2016 (when the Uniform Nutrition Criteria applied) compared to those advertised in May 2013 (when it did not). Despite these modest improvements, more than 75% of all food advertisements featured products categorized as ‘less healthy’ and all of them featured products deemed excessive in either fat (total, saturated, trans), sodium or free sugars according to the more stringent PAHO NPM. When we exclusively examined CAI advertisements, results were similar and the overall healthfulness of products advertised in May 2016 was comparable to that of non-CAI companies to which the Uniform Nutrition Criteria did not apply. Though we attempted to compare the healthfulness of products advertised between May 2013 and May 2016 by food category, the sample size of many categories was too small to reliably test differences. Some results suggest that the healthfulness of some product categories advertised by CAI companies may have improved (e.g. fast food) while others suggest a worsening (e.g. cold cereals).

Our results also showed that contrary to what was hypothesized, foods advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 were not healthier according to both NPMs when child viewership was at least 35% compared to those advertised when child viewership was 15–34.9%. Together, these results suggest that the CAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria has not been particularly effective at improving the healthfulness of food/beverage advertising viewed by children aged 2 to 11 on television. This finding is consistent with previous research in Canada [ 9 , 10 , 11 ], the United States [ 25 , 26 , 27 ] and other countries [ 28 ] which has shown that self-regulation has not led to meaningful changes in the healthfulness of products advertised to children on broadcast television. Given this lack of effectiveness, many national and international organizations have called for the introduction of statutory regulations [ 5 , 29 ]. Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act that prohibits commercial advertising to children under 13 years is often lauded as a model for other countries thinking of developing child advertising restrictions [ 30 ]. Indeed, research has shown this law is having some positive impact on children’s exposure to food and beverage advertising [ 12 , 16 ]. For instance, some children in Quebec are exposed to fewer food/beverage advertisements on television and this advertising features fewer promotional techniques designed to appeal to children [ 12 ]. However, since the Consumer Protection Act was not specifically designed to restrict unhealthy food/beverage advertising, children in Quebec are still exposed to a large volume of food and beverage ads that target adolescents and adults and the healthfulness of advertised products are only marginally healthier than those advertised to children outside Quebec [ 16 ].

To effectively protect children from unhealthy food/beverage advertising, robust nutrition criteria defining which products can be advertised to them need to be adopted. Consideration also needs to be given to limiting children’s exposure to the promotion of brands that are largely associated with unhealthy foods (even if an ad features a healthy product), as the effect of advertising likely extends to other products of the same brand, regardless of their healthfulness. Indeed, research has shown that branding affects children’s food preferences and choices [ 31 , 32 ]. An experimental study carried out by Boyland et al. [ 33 ], for example, found that the exposure to television advertisements featuring a healthier fast food meal led to the increased liking for fast food among children but did not result in healthier food choices made in a hypothetical situation. One way of limiting the promotion of brands associated with unhealthy products to children would be to only permit the advertising of brands whose entire product line meets the established nutrition criteria. Alternatively, it has also been suggested that food brands be classified as healthy or unhealthy based on the five most purchased products sold under that brand [ 34 ]. Though we documented a slight increase in brand advertising in May 2016 compared to May 2013, one may expect companies to increase such advertising if more stringent self-regulatory (or statutory) restrictions solely based on nutrient profiling were to be implemented (and adhered to).

Some of our results make one question whether the CAI companies are, in fact, complying with the Uniform Nutrition Criteria. To illustrate, in our May 2016 study sample when child viewership was at least 35%, 15 candy, 16 chocolate bar, and 1 soft drink ads belonging to CAI companies were identified despite their pledge to not advertise these products to children under the age of 12 when child audience thresholds were equal to or exceeded 35%. Some of these non-compliant ads aired on child and youth oriented channels such as YTV, Teletoon, and Much Music during programs that could be expected to appeal to children. For example, M&M’s candy and McDonald’s beverages (including a fruit smoothie, Coca Cola, and iced coffee) were advertised on May 9, 2016 during Just for Laughs Gags airing at 8 pm on YTV where the share of child viewers reached 37.3%. Four non-compliant advertisements (two for M&Ms., one for Skittles and one for McDonald’s beverages) also aired on May 14, 2016 during Mighty Hercules between 9 and 9:30 pm on Teletoon where children made up 42.1% of the audience. Advertisements belonging to seven companies that have pledged to abstain from advertising when child viewership reaches 25–35% were also identified in our sample. Six companies who pledged to only advertise ‘healthier’ foods  advertised products not specifically listed as compliant with the Uniform Nutrition Criteria. Since this study did not assess whether these unlisted products met these nutrition criteria, we cannot say whether the latter six companies are complying with their voluntary commitment. Since ad time is purchased based on projected audience estimates, companies would likely argue that they are complying with the CAI and could not have known that child audiences would be higher than projected. Though this may be true, companies could choose to purchase ad time based on stricter child audience thresholds (also known as “guardbanding”) to increase the likelihood of true compliance [ 35 ]. The examples of non-compliance cited above, whereby candy and sugar-sweetened beverages were advertised during children’s programming, also suggest at the very least that some companies are not complying with the spirit of the CAI. Our findings differ from those published by Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) [ 8 ]. ASC’s 2016 compliance report identified no instances of non-compliance during spot checks that examined 48 h of children’s television programs airing on three child-targeted channels (Teletoon, YTV, and Nickelodeon) during select time periods (e.g., YTV was checked from 6 am to 9 am on weekdays and 6 am-12 pm on Saturday) [ 8 ]. The instances of non-compliance identified in our study were either identified on channels different from those checked by the ASC (e.g. Much Music, CTV) or aired outside the time frames that were examined (e.g. on YTV, after 6 pm). This discrepancy highlights the inadequacy of current monitoring activities led by advertising standard agencies that are industry-funded. Independent monitoring is clearly needed to assess the impact of food/beverage advertising restrictions as well as company compliance.

In addition to non-compliance, the healthfulness of products advertised by the CAI may have only been modestly better in May 2016 compared to May 2013 as measured by UK and PAHO NPMs because the Uniform Nutrition Criteria themselves are not very stringent. For example, over a third (10) of the 26 products that are listed as compliant and approved for advertising to children by the CAI are sugar-sweetened breakfast cereals and include Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Alpha Bit Cereal, and Lucky Charms. Fruit flavored snacks such as Fruit by the Foot and Fruit Gushers, whose most predominant ingredient is sugar [ 36 , 37 ], are also among the approved products. Given that many of these products are considered less healthy by the UK NPM (and would be by any other sound nutritional standards), it is not surprising that most CAI advertisements would still be considered unhealthy after the implementation of the Uniform Nutrition Criteria during programming on which it applies. For example, 7 of the 8 compliant CAI products advertised in May 2016 in our sample were deemed less healthy according to the UK NPM. Even if CAI companies were to adopt more stringent nutrition criteria, the voluntary nature of the initiative would still limit its effectiveness in improving the healthfulness of products advertised to children.

Though not related to the CAI or the Uniform Nutrition Criteria, it is interesting to note that our study identified four Red Bull advertisements (one in May 2016 and three in May 2013) during programs where child viewership reached 35% even though Health Canada regulations prohibit the advertising of energy drinks to children [ 38 ]. Similar results have been found on 2 of 10 Canadian child preferred websites where ads for Red Bull appeared on websites where children aged 2–11 constituted more than 45% of website visitors [ 39 ]. The promotion of energy drinks to children is worrisome given the adverse health effects associated with their consumption including anxiety, sleep disturbances, cardiovascular and gastro-intestinal symptoms, and even seizures and death in some rare cases [ 40 , 41 ]. Interestingly, Red Bull GmbH is a member of the Canadian Beverage Association, an industry interest group that claims that all its members “voluntarily commit to not advertise energy drinks in programming … whose primary target audience is children” (i.e. when children under 12 years constitute more than 35% of the audience) [ 42 , 43 ]. The energy drink ads found in our sample are further evidence that voluntary pledges made by industry are ineffective in protecting children.

This study also found that the frequency of food/beverage advertisements was higher in May 2016 compared to May 2013 during programs where children made-up 35% or more of the viewing audience. During this programming, there were on average of 1.6 food/beverage ads per 30-min program in May 2013 while in May 2016, there were 2.6 ads per program. The frequency of ads belonging to CAI companies was also higher in May 2016 (1.4 ads/program) compared to May 2013 (0.8 ads/program). The increase in frequency may be due to a rise in total advertising during television programs though what remains clear is that children’s potential exposure to food/beverage advertising on television has increased.

Strengths and limitations

This study is the first to evaluate the CAI Uniform Nutrition Criteria. Its strengths include the use of Numeris and Nielsen Media Research data and analytical software. Further, this study also applied two nutrient profile models, the PAHO and UK NPMs, which provided a comprehensive assessment of the healthfulness of products advertised to children. Though the UK NPM offered good reliability and validity, it is currently being reviewed to more accurately reflect the latest dietary guidelines, particularly as it pertains to sugar [ 44 ]. The use of the 2013 FLIP data was also a strength given that it coincided with the May 2013 advertising data. However, it did not include nutritional information for fast food therefore this data had to be drawn from 2016 data. Any fast food reformulation between 2013 and 2016 would therefore not be accounted for in our data. This research was also based on the advertising of 19 food categories frequently advertised to children on Canadian television stations. Therefore, our findings cannot be generalized to other food categories, other media, or to non-Canadian television stations. A final limitation is that our research does not specifically evaluate individual company compliance; it is therefore difficult to determine whether the Uniform Nutrition Criteria are to blame for the poor nutritional quality of food advertising to children or whether it is a question of companies not complying with the criteria (or both).

This study adds to the body of evidence showing that industry self-regulation does not lead to substantive improvements in food/beverage advertising directed at children on television, further emphasizing the need for statutory restrictions. To protect children, food/beverage restrictions based on stringent nutrition criteria need to be adopted. The instances of non-compliance cited in this study also highlight the need for effective third-party monitoring to hold food and beverage companies accountable.

Abbreviations

Advertising Standards Canada

Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative

Food label information program

Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Profile Model

United Kingdom Nutrient Profile Model

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This study was funded by Health Canada. This organization had no role in the study designed, data collection, analysis and interpretation of the results.

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MPK designed the study and oversaw the data collection and analysis. JS and ML collected the data. EP carried out the data analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Monique Potvin Kent .

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Potvin Kent, M., Smith, J.R., Pauzé, E. et al. The effectiveness of the food and beverage industry’s self-established uniform nutrition criteria at improving the healthfulness of food advertising viewed by Canadian children on television. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 15 , 57 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-018-0694-0

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Coffee lovers around the world who reach for their favorite morning brew probably aren’t thinking about its health benefits or risks. And yet this beverage has been subject to a long history of debate. In 1991 coffee was included in a list of possible carcinogens by the World Health Organization. By 2016 it was exonerated, as research found that the beverage was not associated with an increased risk of cancer; on the contrary, there was a decreased risk of certain cancers among those who drink coffee regularly once smoking history was properly accounted for. Additional accumulating research suggests that when consumed in moderation, coffee can be considered a healthy beverage . Why then in 2018 did one U.S. state pass legislation that coffee must bear a cancer warning label? Read on to explore the complexities of coffee.

• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
• Plant chemicals: polyphenols including chlorogenic acid and quinic acid, and diterpenes including cafestol and kahweol

One 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee contains about 95 mg of caffeine. A moderate amount of coffee is generally defined as 3-5 cups a day, or on average 400 mg of caffeine, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Coffee and Health

Coffee is an intricate mixture of more than a thousand chemicals. [1] The cup of coffee you order from a coffee shop is likely different from the coffee you brew at home. What defines a cup is the type of coffee bean used, how it is roasted, the amount of grind, and how it is brewed. Human response to coffee or caffeine can also vary substantially across individuals. Low to moderate doses of caffeine (50–300 mg) may cause increased alertness, energy, and ability to concentrate, while higher doses may have negative effects such as anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, and increased heart rate. [2] Still, the cumulative research on coffee points in the direction of a health benefit. [3,4] Does the benefit stem from the caffeine or plant compounds in the coffee bean? Is there a certain amount of coffee needed a day to produce a health benefit?

Coffee may affect how cancer develops, ranging from the initiation of a cancer cell to its death. For example, coffee may stimulate the production of bile acids and speed digestion through the colon, which can lower the amount of carcinogens to which colon tissue is exposed. Various polyphenols in coffee have been shown to prevent cancer cell growth in animal studies. Coffee has also been associated with decreased estrogen levels, a hormone linked to several types of cancer. [5] Caffeine itself may interfere with the growth and spread of cancer cells. [6] Coffee also appears to lower inflammation, a risk factor for many cancers.

The 2018 uproar in California due to warning labels placed on coffee products stemmed from a chemical in the beverage called acrylamide, which is formed when the beans are roasted. Acrylamide is also found in some starchy foods that are processed with high heat like French fries, cookies, crackers, and potato chips. It was classified in the National Toxicology Program’s 2014 Report on Carcinogens , as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” based on studies in lab animals. However, there is not yet evidence of a health effect in humans from eating acrylamide in food. Regardless, in March 2018 a California judge ruled that all California coffee sellers must warn consumers about the “potential cancer risk” from drinking coffee, because coffee-selling companies failed to show that acrylamide did not pose a significant health risk. California’s law Proposition 65, or The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, fueled the ruling, which requires a warning label to be placed on any ingredient from a list of 900 confirmed or suspected carcinogens.

However, many cancer experts disputed the ruling , stating that the metabolism of acrylamide differs considerably in animals and humans, and the high amount of acrylamide used in animal research is not comparable to the amount present in food. They cited the beneficial health effects of coffee, with improved antioxidant responses and reduced inflammation, both factors important in cancer prevention. Evidence from the American Institute for Cancer Research concludes that drinking coffee may  reduce risk for endometrial and liver cancer , and based on a systematic review of a large body of research, it is not a risk for the cancers that were studied.

In June 2018, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) proposed a new regulation exempting coffee from displaying cancer warnings under Proposition 65. This proposal was based on a review of more than 1,000 studies published by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer that found inadequate evidence that drinking coffee causes cancer. In January 2019, OEHHA completed its review and response to comments and submitted the regulation to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for final review.

Although ingestion of caffeine can increase blood sugar in the short-term, long-term studies have shown that habitual coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with non-drinkers. The polyphenols and minerals such as magnesium in coffee may improve the effectiveness of insulin and glucose metabolism in the body.

• In a meta-analysis of 45,335 people with type 2 diabetes followed for up to 20 years, an association was found with increasing cups of coffee and a lower risk of developing diabetes. Compared with no coffee, the decreased risk ranged from 8% with 1 cup a day to 33% for 6 cups a day. Caffeinated coffee showed a slightly greater benefit than decaffeinated coffee. [7]
• Another meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies showed similar associations. When comparing the highest intake of coffee (up to 10 cups a day) with the lowest (<1 cup), there was a 30% decreased risk of type 2 diabetes in those drinking the highest amounts of coffee and caffeine and a 20% decreased risk when drinking decaffeinated coffee. Further analysis showed that the incidence of diabetes decreased by 12% for every 2 extra cups of coffee a day, and 14% for every 200 mg a day increase in caffeine intake (up to 700 mg a day). [8]

Caffeine is a stimulant affecting the central nervous system that can cause different reactions in people. In sensitive individuals, it can irritate the stomach, increase anxiety or a jittery feeling, and disrupt sleep. Although many people appreciate the temporary energy boost after drinking an extra cup of coffee, high amounts of caffeine can cause unwanted heart palpitations in some.

Unfiltered coffee, such as French press and Turkish coffees, contains diterpenes, substances that can raise bad LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Espresso coffee contains moderate amounts of diterpenes. Filtered coffee (drip-brewed coffee) and instant coffee contain almost no diterpenes as the filtering and processing of these coffee types removes the diterpenes.

Despite these factors, evidence suggests that drinking coffee regularly may lower the risk of heart disease and stroke :

• Among 83,076 women in the Nurses’ Health Study, drinking 4 or more cups of coffee each day was associated with a 20% lower risk of stroke compared with non-drinkers. Decaffeinated coffee also showed an association, with 2 or more cups daily and a 11% lower stroke risk. The authors found no such association with other caffeinated drinks such as tea and soda. These coffee-specific results suggest that components in coffee other than caffeine may be protective. [9]
• A large cohort of 37,514 women concluded that moderate coffee drinking of 2-3 cups a day was associated with a 21% reduced risk of heart disease. [10]
• In addition, a meta-analysis of 21 prospective studies of men and women looking at coffee consumption and death from chronic diseases found a link between moderate coffee consumption (3 cups per day) and a 21% lower risk of cardiovascular disease deaths compared with non-drinkers. [11]
• Another meta-analysis of 36 studies including men and women reviewed coffee consumption and risk of cardiovascular diseases (including heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and deaths from these conditions). It found that when compared with the lowest intakes of coffee (average 0 cups), a moderate coffee intake of 3-5 cups a day was linked with a 15% lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Heavier coffee intake of 6 or more cups daily was neither associated with a higher nor a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. [12]

Naturally occurring polyphenols in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee can act as antioxidants to reduce damaging oxidative stress and inflammation of cells. It may have neurological benefits in some people and act as an antidepressant. [13] Caffeine may affect mental states such as increasing alertness and attention, reducing anxiety, and improving mood. [14] A moderate caffeine intake of less than 6 cups of coffee per day has been associated with a lower risk of depression and suicide. However in a few cases of sensitive individuals, higher amounts of caffeine may increase anxiety, restlessness, and insomnia. Suddenly stopping caffeine intake can cause headache, fatigue, anxiety, and low mood for a few days and may persist for up to a week. [15]

• A prospective cohort study following 263,923 participants from the National Institutes of Health and American Association of Retired Persons found that those who drank 4 or more cups of coffee a day were almost 10% less likely to become depressed than those who drank none. [15]
• In a meta-analysis of observational studies including 330,677 participants, the authors found a 24% reduced risk of depression when comparing the highest (4.5 cups/day) to lowest (<1 cup) intakes of coffee. They found an 8% decreased risk of depression with each additional cup of coffee consumed. There was also a 28% reduced risk of depression comparing the highest to lowest intakes of caffeine, with the greatest benefit occurring with caffeine intakes between 68 and 509 mg a day (about 6 oz. to 2 cups of coffee). [16]
• A review looking at three large prospective cohorts of men and women in the U.S. found a decreasing risk of suicide with increasing coffee consumption. When compared with no-coffee drinkers, the pooled risk of suicide was 45% lower among those who drank 2-3 cups daily and 53% lower among those who drank 4 or more cups daily. There was no association between decaffeinated coffee and suicide risk, suggesting that caffeine was the key factor, rather than plant compounds in coffee. [17]
• A systematic review of 26 studies including cohort and case-control studies found a 25% lower risk of developing PD with higher intakes of caffeinated coffee. It also found a 24% decreased risk with every 300 mg increase in caffeine intake. [18]
• A Finnish cohort study tracked coffee consumption and PD development in 6,710 men and women over 22 years. In that time, after adjusting for known risks of PD, those who drank at least 10 cups of coffee a day had a significantly lower risk of developing the disease than non-drinkers. [19]
• A large cohort of men and women were followed for 10 and 16 years, respectively, to study caffeine and coffee intake on PD. The results showed an association in men drinking the most caffeine (6 or more cups of coffee daily) and a 58% lower risk of PD compared with men drinking no coffee. Women showed the lowest risk when drinking moderate intakes of 1-3 cups coffee daily. [20]
• However, three systematic reviews were inconclusive about coffee’s effect on Alzheimer’s disease due to a limited number of studies and a high variation in study types that produced mixed findings. Overall the results suggested a trend towards a protective effect of caffeine against late-life dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but no definitive statements could be made. The authors stated the need for larger studies with longer follow-up periods. Randomized controlled trials studying a protective effect of coffee or caffeine on the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are not yet available. [21-23]

There are various proposed actions of caffeine or components in coffee that may prevent the formation of gallstones. The most common type of gallstone is made of cholesterol. Coffee may prevent cholesterol from forming into crystals in the gallbladder. It may stimulate contractions in the gallbladder and increase the flow of bile so that cholesterol does not collect. [24]

A study of 46,008 men tracked the development of gallstones and their coffee consumption for 10 years. After adjusting for other factors known to cause gallstones, the study concluded that men who consistently drank coffee were significantly less likely to develop gallstones compared to men who did not. [24] A similar large study found the same result in women. [25]

• In a large cohort of more than 200,000 participants followed for up to 30 years, an association was found between drinking moderate amounts of coffee and lower risk of early death. Compared with non-drinkers, those who drank 3-5 cups of coffee daily were 15% less likely to die early from all causes, including cardiovascular disease, suicide, and Parkinson’s disease. Both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee provided benefits. The authors suggested that bioactive compounds in coffee may be responsible for interfering with disease development by reducing inflammation and insulin resistance. [26]
• In a large prospective cohort of more than 500,000 people followed for 10 years, an association was found between drinking higher amounts of coffee and lower rates of death from all causes. Compared with non-drinkers, those drinking 6-7 cups daily had a 16% lower risk of early death. [26] A protective association was also found in those who drank 8 or more cups daily. The protective effect was present regardless of a genetic predisposition to either faster or slower caffeine metabolism. Instant and decaffeinated coffee showed a similar health benefit.

The bottom line: A large body of evidence suggests that consumption of caffeinated coffee does not increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancers. In fact, consumption of 3 to 5 standard cups of coffee daily has been consistently associated with a reduced risk of several chronic diseases. [4] However, some individuals may not tolerate higher amounts of caffeine due to symptoms of jitteriness, anxiety, and insomnia. Specifically, those who have difficulty controlling their blood pressure may want to moderate their coffee intake. Pregnant women are also advised to aim for less than 200 mg of caffeine daily, the amount in 2 cups of coffee, because caffeine passes through the placenta into the fetus and has been associated with pregnancy loss and low birth weight. [3, 27] Because of the potential negative side effects some people experience when drinking caffeinated coffee, it is not necessary to start drinking it if you do not already or to increase the amount you currently drink, as there are many other dietary strategies to improve your health. Decaffeinated coffee is a good option if one is sensitive to caffeine, and according to the research summarized above, it offers similar health benefits as caffeinated coffee. It’s also important to keep in mind how you enjoy your brew. The extra calories, sugar, and saturated fat in a coffee house beverage loaded with whipped cream and flavored syrup might offset any health benefits found in a basic black coffee.

What about iced coffee?

Coffee beans are the seeds of a fruit called a coffee cherry. Coffee cherries grow on coffee trees from a genus of plants called Coffea . There are a wide variety of species of coffee plants, ranging from shrubs to trees.

• Type of bean. There are two main types of coffee species, Arabica and Robusta. Arabica originates from Ethiopia and produces a mild, flavorful tasting coffee. It is the most popular type worldwide. However, it is expensive to grow because the Arabica plant is sensitive to the environment, requiring shade, humidity, and steady temperatures between 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit. The Robusta coffee plant is more economical to grow because it is resistant to disease and survives in a wider range of temperatures between 65-97 degrees Fahrenheit. It can also withstand harsh climate changes such as variations in rainfall and strong sunlight.
• Type of roast. Coffee beans start out green. They are roasted at a high heat to produce a chemical change that releases the rich aroma and flavor that we associate with coffee. They are then cooled and ground for brewing. Roasting levels range from light to medium to dark. The lighter the roast, the lighter the color and roasted flavor and the higher its acidity. Dark roasts produce a black bean with little acidity and a bitter roasted flavor. The popular French roast is medium-dark.
• Type of grind. A medium grind is the most common and used for automatic drip coffee makers. A fine grind is used for deeper flavors like espresso, which releases the oils, and a coarse grind is used in coffee presses.

Decaffeinated coffee . This is an option for those who experience unpleasant side effects from caffeine. The two most common methods used to remove caffeine from coffee is to apply chemical solvents (methylene chloride or ethyl acetate) or carbon dioxide gas. Both are applied to steamed or soaked beans, which are then allowed to dry. The solvents bind to caffeine and both evaporate when the beans are rinsed and/or dried. According to U.S. regulations, at least 97% of the caffeine must be removed to carry the decaffeinated label, so there may be trace residual amounts of caffeine. Both methods may cause some loss of flavor as other naturally occurring chemicals in coffee beans that impart their unique flavor and scent may be destroyed during processing.

A plain “black” cup of coffee is a very low calorie drink—8 ounces only contains 2 calories! However, adding sugar, cream, and milk can quickly bump up the calorie counts. A tablespoon of cream contains 52 calories, and a tablespoon of whole milk contains 9 calories. While 9 calories isn’t a lot, milk is often poured into coffee without measuring, so you may be getting several servings of milk or cream in your coffee. A tablespoon of sugar contains 48 calories, so if you take your coffee with cream and sugar, you’re adding over 100 extra calories to your daily cup.

However, the real caloric danger occurs in specialty mochas, lattes, or blended ice coffee drinks. These drinks are often super-sized and can contain anywhere from 200-500 calories, as well as an extremely large amount of sugar. With these drinks, it’s best to enjoy them as a treat or dessert, and stick with plain, minimally sweetened coffee on a regular basis

• Place beans or ground coffee in an airtight opaque container at room temperature away from sunlight. Inside a cool dark cabinet would be ideal. Exposure to moisture, air, heat, and light can strip coffee of its flavor. Coffee packaging does not preserve the coffee well for extended periods, so transfer larger amounts of coffee to airtight containers.
• Coffee can be frozen if stored in a very airtight container. Exposure to even small amounts of air in the freezer can lead to freezer burn.
• Follow directions on the coffee package and your coffee machine, but generally the ratio is 1-2 tablespoons of ground coffee per 6 ounces of water.
• For optimal coffee flavor, drink soon after brewing. The beverage will lose flavor with time.
• Use ground coffee within a few days and whole beans within two weeks.

Did You Know?

• It is a myth that darker roasts contain a higher level of caffeine than lighter roasts. Lighter roasts actually have a slightly higher concentration!
• Coffee grinds should not be brewed more than once. Brewed grinds taste bitter and may no longer produce a pleasant coffee flavor.
• While water is always the best choice for quenching your thirst, coffee can count towards your daily fluid goals. Although caffeine has a mild diuretic effect, it is offset by the total amount of fluid from the coffee.

• Je Y, Liu W, and Giovannucci E. Coffee consumption and risk of colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. International Journal of Cancer , 2009. 124(7): p. 1662-8.
• Eskelinen MH, Kivipelto M. Caffeine as a protective factor in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. J Alzheimers Dis . 2010;20 Suppl 1:S167-74.
• Grosso G, Godos J, Galvano F, Giovannucci EL. Coffee, Caffeine, and Health Outcomes: An Umbrella Review. Annu Rev Nutr . 2017 Aug 21;37:131-156.
• van Dam RM, Hu FB, Willett WC. Coffee, Caffeine, and Health.  NEJM .  2020 Jul 23; 383:369-378
• Je Y, Giovannucci E. Coffee consumption and risk of endometrial cancer: findings from a large up-to-date meta-analysis.  International Journal of Cancer . 2011 Dec 20.
• Arab L. Epidemiologic evidence on coffee and cancer. Nutrition and Cancer , 2010. 62(3): p. 271-83.
• Ding M, Bhupathiraju SN, Chen M, van Dam RM, Hu FB. Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and a dose-response meta-analysis. Diabetes Care . 2014 Feb;37(2):569-86.
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• de Koning Gans JM, Uiterwaal CS, van der Schouw YT, et al. Tea and coffee consumption and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol . 2010;30:1665-71.
• Crippa A, Discacciati A, Larsson SC, Wolk A, Orsini N. Coffee consumption and mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: a dose-response meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol . 2014;180:763-75.
• Ding M, Bhupathiraju SN, Satija A, van Dam RM, Hu FB. Long-term coffee consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Circulation . 2014 Feb 11;129(6):643-59.
• Ding M, Satija A, Bhupathiraju SN, Hu Y, Sun Q, Han J, Lopez-Garcia E, Willett W, van Dam RM, Hu FB. Association of Coffee Consumption With Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in 3 Large Prospective Cohorts. Circulation . 2015 Dec 15;132(24):2305-15.
• Lara DR. Caffeine, mental health, and psychiatric disorders. J Alzheimers Dis . 2010;20 Suppl 1:S239-48.
• Guo X, Park Y, Freedman ND, Sinha R, Hollenbeck AR, Blair A, Chen H. Sweetened beverages, coffee, and tea and depression risk among older US adults. PLoS One . 2014 Apr 17;9(4):e94715.
• Wang L, Shen X, Wu Y, Zhang D. Coffee and caffeine consumption and depression: A meta-analysis of observational studies. Aust N Z J Psychiatry . 2016 Mar;50(3):228-42.
• Lucas M, O’Reilly EJ, Pan A, Mirzaei F, Willett WC, Okereke OI, Ascherio A. Coffee, caffeine, and risk of completed suicide: results from three prospective cohorts of American adults. World J Biol Psychiatry . 2014 Jul;15(5):377-86.
• Costa J, Lunet N, Santos C, Santos J, Vaz-Carneiro A. Caffeine exposure and the risk of Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. J Alzheimers Dis . 2010;20 Suppl 1:S221-38.
• Sääksjärvi K, Knekt P, Rissanen H, Laaksonen MA, Reunanen A, Männistö S. Prospective study of coffee consumption and risk of parkinson’s disease. Eur J Clin Nutr . 2008;62:908–915.
• Ascherio A, Zhang SM, Hernan MA, Kawachi I, Colditz GA, Speizer FE, Willett WC. Prospective study of caffeine consumption and risk of parkinson’s disease in men and women. Ann Neurol . 2001;50:56–63.
• Panza F, Solfrizzi V, Barulli MR, Bonfiglio C, Guerra V, Osella A, Seripa D, Sabbà C, Pilotto A, Logroscino G. Coffee, tea, and caffeine consumption and prevention of late-life cognitive decline and dementia: a systematic review. J Nutr Health Aging . 2015 Mar;19(3):313-28.
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Last reviewed July 2020

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  PRESS RELEASE:

66 New Food and Beverage Industry Planned Project Reports – Modest Decline in April 2024

Research confirms 66 new projects as compared to 73 in march 2024.

Source: Industrial SalesLeads Inc   |   Thu, 16 May 2024, 07:00:28 EDT

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla., May 16, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Industrial SalesLeads announced today the March 2024 results for the new planned capital project spending report for the Food and Beverage industry. The Firm tracks North American planned industrial capital project activity; including facility expansions, new plant construction and significant equipment modernization projects. Research confirms 66 new projects as compared to 73 in March 2024.

The following are selected highlights on new Food and Beverage industry construction news .

Food and Beverage Project Type

• Processing Facilities – 41 New Projects
• Distribution and Industrial Warehouse – 26 New Projects

Food and Beverage Project Scope/Activity

• New Construction – 22 New Projects
• Expansion – 16 New Projects
• Renovations/Equipment Upgrades – 31 New Projects
• Plant Closing – 6 New Projects

Food and Beverage Project Location (Top 10 States)

California – 7

Illinois – 6

Ohio – 5

Florida – 4

Indiana – 4

Michigan – 3

Ontario – 3

Texas – 3

Wisconsin – 3

Colorado – 2

Largest Planned Project

During the month of March, our research team identified 5 new Food and Beverage facility construction projects with an estimated value of $100 million or more.

The largest project is owned by Daisy Brand, who is investing $708 million for the construction of a 750,000 sf processing and warehouse facility in BOONE, IA. They are currently seeking approval for the project.

Top 10 Tracked Food and Beverage Projects

SOUTH DAKOTA:

Startup dairy company is planning to invest $191 million for the construction of a processing facility in KINGSBURY COUNTY, SD. They have recently received approval for the project.

Nutritional product mfr. is planning to invest $128 million for the expansion, renovations, and equipment upgrades on their processing, laboratory, office, and storage facilities at 5101 Spaulding Plaza SE and 7575 Fulton Street E. in ADA, MI. They are currently seeking approval for the project.

Chocolate mfr. is planning for the renovation and equipment upgrades on a recently acquired 700,000 sf processing, warehouse, and office facility at 1 Hershey Dr. in SMITHS FALLS, ON. They are currently seeking approval for the project.

Dairy company is planning to invest $84 million for the expansion and equipment upgrades on their processing facility in WINCHESTER, VA. They have recently received approval for the project.

Food processing company is planning to invest $65 million for a 120,000 sf expansion, renovations, and equipment upgrades on a processing facility at 2295 E. 55th St. in CLEVELAND, OH. They are currently seeking approval for the project. Construction is expected to start in Summer 2024.

Startup snack food mfr. is planning to invest $55 million for the construction of an 80,000 sf processing facility at 250 Northcutt Rd. in LIMESTONE, ME. They have recently received approval for the project. Construction is expected to start in Summer 2024, with completion slated for late Fall 2025.

Cheese mfr. is planning for the renovation and equipment upgrades on a 310,500 sf warehouse facility in CALEDONIA, WI. They are currently seeking approval for the project.

CALIFORNIA:

Frozen food mfr. has recently agreed to pre-lease 204,000 sf of cold storage warehouse space in TULARE, CA. They will relocate a portion of their operations from NEVADA upon completion in Fall 2024.

Animal feed mfr. is planning to invest $12 million for the construction of a 100,000 sf warehouse facility in CRAWFORD TOWNSHIP, OH. They have recently received approval for the project.

RHODE ISLAND:

Food service distributor is planning for the renovation and equipment upgrades on a recently leased 84,000 sf processing facility at 100 Higginson Ave. in LINCOLN, RI. They will relocate their operations upon completion.

About Industrial SalesLeads, Inc.

Since 1959, Industrial SalesLeads, based in Jacksonville, FL is a leader in delivering industrial capital project intelligence and prospecting services for sales and marketing teams to ensure a predictable and scalable pipeline. Our Industrial Market Intelligence, IMI identifies timely insights on companies planning significant capital investments such as new construction, expansion, relocation, equipment modernization and plant closings in industrial facilities. The Outsourced Prospecting Services, an extension to your sales team, is designed to drive growth with qualified meetings and appointments for your internal sales team. Visit us at salesleadsinc.com.

Each month, our team provides hundreds of industrial reports within a variety of industries, including:

• Industrial Manufacturing
• Food and Beverage
• Power Generation
• Pulp Paper and Wood
• Oil and Gas
• Mining and Aggregates
• Research and Development
• Distribution and Supply Chain
• Pharmaceutical
• Industrial Buildings
• Waste Water Treatment
• Data Centers

Learn more: https://www.salesleadsinc.com/industry/food-and-beverage/

News Source: Industrial SalesLeads Inc

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planned capital project spending report

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ABOUT THE NEWS SOURCE: Industrial SalesLeads Inc

Since 1959, Industrial SalesLeads, based in Jacksonville, FL is a leader in delivering industrial capital project intelligence and prospecting services for sales and marketing teams to ensure a predictable and scalable pipeline. Our Industrial Market Intelligence, The company identifies timely insights on companies planning significant capital investments such as new construction, expansion, relocation, equipment modernization and plant closings in industrial facilities.

More Information: https://www.salesleadsinc.com/

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REFERENCES: Food and Beverage News, Industrial SalesLeads, Food and Beverage Industry Planned Projects, warehouse, material handling, logistics, distribution center, manufacturing, industrial, food and beverage | ID:118458

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CVS Health (CVS) Expands Food and Beverage Line With New Launch

CVS Health ’s ( CVS Quick Quote CVS - Free Report ) retail division — CVS Pharmacy — launched Well Market,  a new store brand consumables line featuring snacks, beverages and groceries. Products from Well Market can now be purchased on CVS.com and in CVS pharmacies across the United States.

The recent development will expand CVS Health’s food and beverage portfolio.

More on Well Market

Well Market provides a range of products with zero grams of trans fat and no artificial preservatives, sweeteners, or colors and products that reflect consumer preferences for certain trends and flavors. Well Market offers products to suit a wide range of wellness objectives and particular taste preferences, whether clients want to fulfill a yearning for something more decadent or have special dietary requirements or preferences like vegan, gluten-free, or keto.

The Well Market brand offers a blend of mouthwatering flavors and nutritious options, expertly crafted and taste-tested by food enthusiasts. Well Market's inventive flavors satisfy a wide range of palates, offering everything from strong and spicy to sweet and savory selections, such as Dark Chocolate Lightly Dipped Cashews and Sea Salt Rustic Plantain Chips.

With more than 9,000 CVS Pharmacy locations across the country, getting delectable snacks is quick and easy. The majority of the Well Market line's products range in price from $2.99 to $8.99 and are protected by our 100% money-back guarantee.

Benefits of New Launch

CVS Health aims to be the most consumer-centric healthcare solutions company. Through this repositioning and expansion of its food and beverage portfolio, CVS Health is offering new nutritious options to its customers.

With its first-to-market range of flavor-infused sprouted almonds that includes Salt & Vinegar, Zesty Dill Pickle and Maple Cinnamon, each flavor is injected during the sprouting process, the well-timed market launch is also altering the way flavors are introduced. Customers may enjoy more from every bite thanks to this launch, which not only improves taste and keeps hands clean but also suggests that sprouting may facilitate the body's easier digestion of the nutrients in almonds.

Industry Prospects

Per a report , the global health and wellness market was valued at $5,546.0 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach more than $9,245.8 billion by 2033, registering a CAGR of 5.2% from 2024 to 2033. The market is primarily driven by the increased consumer expenditure of a wide variety of health and wellness products and services across the globe.

Other Notable Highlights

Over the last few quarters, the Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness business registered revenue growth after several quarters of a drag. Amid the pandemic, this segment plays a crucial role in the company’s community-focused strategy. 

The company’s considerable expansion in the retail pharmacy has led to significant market share increases over time. This demonstrates the benefit the company offers to pharmacy patients and the investments made to enhance their experiences.

In December 2023, CVS Health unveiled its new CVS CostVantage model in the pharmacy and consumer wellness business. This model proactively addresses the persistent reimbursement pressures in the retail pharmacy industry. During the first quarter, the company signed CVS CostVantage agreements with multiple third-party discount card administrators that were effective on Apr 1 and represent more than 50% of all CVS discount card volume.

Price Performance

In the past six months, CVS’ shares have declined 15.5% compared with the industry ’s rise of 16.3%.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

CVS Health currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Medpace ( MEDP Quick Quote MEDP - Free Report ) , ResMed ( RMD Quick Quote RMD - Free Report ) and Encompass Health Corporation ( EHC Quick Quote EHC - Free Report ) .

Medpace, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), reported a first-quarter 2024 EPS of $3.20, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 30.6%. Revenues of $511 million improved 17.7% from last year’s comparable figure. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Medpace has an estimated 2024 earnings growth rate of 26.5% compared with the industry’s 12.3%. The company’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 12.8%.

ResMed, sporting a Zacks Rank #1, reported a first-quarter 2024 EPS of $2.13, which topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.9%. Revenues of $1.20 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.9%.

RMD has an estimated fiscal 2024 earnings growth rate of 17.9% compared to the industry’s 15.7%. In each of the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average earnings surprise of 2.8%.

Encompass Health, carrying a Zacks Rank #2, reported a first-quarter 2024 adjusted EPS of $1.12, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20.4%. Net operating revenues of $1.3 billion topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.6%.

EHC has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 15.6% compared with the industry’s 11.7% growth. The company’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 18.7%.

See More Zacks Research for These Tickers

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ResMed Inc. (RMD) - free report >>

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Medpace Holdings, Inc. (MEDP) - free report >>

Encompass Health Corporation (EHC) - free report >>

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