What challenges does the specialty food business face in the next five years?
The never-ending short-term challenges will continue to evolve and reappear; currency fluctuations, new competitive formats, increased regulations, abusive purchasing tactics, increasing raw material costs, and a steady supply of new competitors. As always, the success of individual companies will vary based on how they adapt to meet these conditions. The single remaining long-term challenge is the inability of both the industry and most of our suppliers to communicate with consumers. Responding to this opportunity effectively will lead to another period of substantial growth. In the past, specialty food products were handicapped against mass market products as follows: limited retail presence of specialty items; too few items to be important; and an inability to communicate with consumers. Mass market companies churned out new items, dominated the distribution system and utilized large advertising budgets and creative skills to influence the consumer. During the last century, our indu
