More growth expected amid strong demand and ongoing innovation, despite a shift to focus on core items
Consumer demand for products that meet the requirements of specific diets, especially keto and paleo, have continued to be a driver of better-for-you offerings in center store during the past year.
Despite widespread outages of certain center store items in 2020 and the culling of certain niche products, grocery retailers and distributors foresee the lingering supply-chain challenges eventually resolving themselves this year. The issues impacting manufacturers have included ingredient supply shortfalls, labor constraints and packaging-supply challenges, among others, which were exacerbated by elevated consumer demand for shelf-stable items, especially early in the pandemic but still continuing today. Consumers are gradually returning to pre-pandemic shopping routines, however, and those routines include an increasing focus on better-for you items with perceived health benefi