Fiona McDonald reflects on the resilience of food & drink manufacturing.
We are currently facing a number of stories where food and drink manufacturing businesses (spanning both family owned and multi-national) are either closing down, are for sale or announcing redundancies. For example, Asda and Typhoo. This month, UK retailers (including Tesco, Boots, M&S, Next, Kingfisher, Whitbread) warned the Chancellor of closures, job cuts and price increases, as a result of the budget tax rises.
Oddies, a fourth generation Lancashire bakery is seeking a rescue deal. It left me feeling quite saddened when I read in Food Manufacture that their MD reported Oddies "….has withstood two world wars and their food scarcity, the Great Depression, the fall out of Lancashire's cotton industry, the rise of powerful supermarkets and even the COVID-19 pandemic."
What is next? It is easy to get caught in the doom and gloom and yet we have been here before. Food & drink manufacturing has overcome a multitude of challenges and obstacles over the years, even centuries. In evolution, the strong/adaptable/resilient (and sometimes lucky) survive. Let's remain positive and hopeful for the survivors, the innovators, the creators and for the future of food & drink manufacturing!