The food and beverage landscape has become increasingly competitive due to emerging technologies and evolving consumer preferences. 

With convenience and speed at the forefront of the customer experience, capabilities such as ordering ahead on mobile apps, building rewards in digital wallets, and getting your groceries delivered to your home have become the new norm. 

This blending of in-store and online experiences empowers consumers to engage with brands and interact with products in new and personalized ways. For brands operating in the food and beverage industry, it means ensuring your marketing strategies are effective and aligned with these technologies and preferences is crucial for driving revenue and building long-term brand loyalty. 

One way to stay in tune with the times is to harness insights from the marketing statistics available to you. Don’t worry — we’ve compiled the key ones for you. In this blog, we dive deep into food & beverage marketing statistics so you can take a data-driven approach to your marketing plan. 

Overall Marketing Statistics in the Food & Beverage Industry

Before we get too far into the weeds, let’s get a pulse for the current state of marketing in the food and beverage industry. 

• In 2023, the global food and beverage market was worth an estimated $7.22 trillion, and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3% through 2027 (Forbes Partners, 2024).
• In the U.S. alone, the food and alcohol industry’s advertising makes up almost 16% of the mass media advertising market — second only to the automotive industry (Statista, 2024). 
• In 2022, measured media spending in the U.S. food, beverages, and candy sector amounted to 7.5 billion. dollars – with restaurants accounting for another 9 billion. Together, these two segments’ investments in marketing accounted for about one-third of the expenditure of retail, the leading sector (Statista, 2023).
• In 2021, TV accounted for about 80% of the total ad spending for the food and beverage sector. However, between 2021 and 2022, the top 10 biggest spending fast food chains and delivery platforms increased their digital and social media advertising spending by 75%, a trend that continues to tick upwards (Statista, 2024).
• The average marketing budget for a restaurant is typically around 3-6% of its total sales (Revolution Ordering, 2022).

Food & Beverage Consumer Behavior Statistics

In recent years, one of the largest shifts in the food & beverage industry have been driven by consumers’ increasing focus on health and wellness. This includes growing demands for ingredient transparency, sustainable sourcing, plant-based diets, and organic food choices and is largely due to increased access to information thanks to the internet and social media.

• Healthfulness is a key driver of food and beverage choices for 62% of consumers. (International Food Information Council, 2023).
• 42% of Americans have come across social media content on food and nutrition in the past year, and 60% say that content has encouraged healthier choices. (International Food Information Council, 2023).
• The plant-based food market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.54% from 2024 to 2030, reaching $19.07 billion by 2030. (Businesswire, 2024.)
• Nearly 70% of U.S. consumers believe it’s important for brands to provide clear information about their sourcing practices, and products with transparent labeling have experienced a 6% higher market growth compared to those without. (IBM and the National Retail Federation, 2021).
• 68.3% of restaurant customers are willing to spend more at locations with sustainable practices (ChefHero, 2019).

Food & Beverage Social Media Statistics

You’ve likely heard the phrase “phone eats first.” In our digitally-driven world, sharing snaps of your dinner or dessert before you even take a bite is the norm — meaning food and beverage brands can harness the power of social sharing to drive engagement, excitement, and ultimately sales.

• Social media marketing is the second most popular digital marketing strategy among food and beverage companies, with an advertising spend of $3.5 billion in 2021 (CommonThread, 2021).
• 42% of respondents prefer social media to search engines such as Google or Yelp when trying to discover new restaurants (Toast, 2024).
• 45% of U.S. diners said they’ve tried a restaurant for the first time because of a social media post made by the establishment itself (MGH, 2019
• Food influencer marketing is expected to grow at a rate of 42% between 2019 and 2024 (eMarketer, 2022).
• Facebook is still king in this industry as 91% of restaurants use Facebook to market, followed by Instagram at 78% (Toast, 2024). 

View our social media project for Volpi Foods.

Food & Beverage SEO Statistics

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of optimizing a website’s content, design, and development to improve its visibility in search engine results. This attracts organic, targeted traffic — and with nearly endless food and beverage options for consumers to choose from these days, strong SEO is more important than ever in this industry.

• Search engine marketing is the most popular digital marketing strategy among food and beverage companies, with an ad spend of $5.5 billion in 2021 (CommonThread, 2021).
• There are over one billion restaurant searches on Google every single month (Forbes, 2020). 
• 90% of guests research a restaurant online before dining, which is more than any other business type (Upserve, 2023).
• 46% of diners use Google Reviews to check restaurant ratings online, more popular than Yelp (23%), TripAdvisor (9%) and OpenTable (6%) (Toast, 2024).
• On average, restaurants get 7x more views on their Google Business profile than on their website (Mobal.io, 2024).

Food & Beverage Website Design & Development Statistics

Creating a visually appealing and on-brand website that is easy to use and optimized for mobile is the key to attracting — and retaining — customers that are hungry for your offerings. These statistics can help you grasp just how important it is to invest in your food & beverage website design and development.

• 94% of a website’s first impressions are due to its design (ACM, 2024).
• 69% of diners prefer to browse on a restaurant’s website before choosing to visit (WifiTalents, 2024).
• 67% of average restaurant sales are generated by orders placed digitally or by phone (Hospitality Technology, 2021).
• 71% of patrons say they are more likely to recommend a restaurant that offers a convenient online ordering system (Menu Tiger, 2024).
• Customer spending increases 20% when ordering via technology, with online ordering growing check averages for quick service restaurants by 26% and fast casuals by 13% (Deloitte, 2021).

View our website design and development project for Master of Mixes.

Food & Beverage Email & SMS Statistics

You’ve got to eat everyday — and you’re also on your digital devices everyday. Effective email and SMS marketing strategies can help food and beverage brands reach their target customers exactly where they already are. 

• The average email open rate for the food and beverage industry in 2023 was 40.56% (HubSpot, 2024).
• 60% of restaurateurs have automated their email marketing (TouchBistro, 2024).
• 64% of restaurateurs are sending personalized offers to customers via email in 2024 (TouchBistro, 2024).
• SMS messages have an average open rate of 98%, far eclipsing email (Maverick, 2024).
• Food and beverage brands saw the highest open rates, click rates, and revenue per recipient for SMS campaigns via Klaviyo of any industry (Klaviyo, 2024).

Food & Beverage Branding & Packaging Statistics

Your cool branded to-go container or cute Instagram-worthy coffee sleeve is not just the packaging your product comes in — it’s also one of the first tangible experiences a customer will have with your brand. When you have strong, identifiable visual elements and invest in professional packaging that reflects it, you’re helping customers resonate with and recognize your brand over time.

• The global food packaging market size was valued at USD 479.73 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow from USD 505.27 billion in 2024 to USD 808.40 billion by 2032 (Fortune Business Insights, 2024)
• 53% of consumers reported that they would be willing to pay one to three percent more for sustainably packaged foods (Statista, 2024). 
• Up to 90% of initial judgments about products are based on color alone, with reds and oranges being common amongst food brands to incite appetite (LinkedIn, 2024).
• 88% of consumers said taste was their primary reason for buying a product. Beautiful packaging and effective marketing may get them to buy your product once, but they won’t return unless it’s backed by delicious flavor (International Taste Institute, 2020).
• In 2024, 45% of food industry operators expect competition to be more intense than last year, meaning effective branding will be more crucial than ever before (National Restaurant Association, 2024).

View our website print and packaging design project for Kelia Cannabis Beverages.

Hungry for more food & beverage marketing insights? 

Champ has been helping food and beverage brands understand and adapt to evolving industry trends for over 15 years so they can see success with digital marketing. Whether you’re in need of a full suite of services or support in one specific area of marketing, we’re here to help. Check out our portfolio or reach out to get a brainstorm started!

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