The challenge with consumers is that they aren’t just walking around as these mythical one-dimensional consumer-bots. Instead, they are walking around as thinking, feeling and ever-changing human beings.

Spending on casual dining restaurants has been increasing during recent years. In the samples from our CFDAS Database, the aggregate netspends on casual dining in billions $ from 2016-2022 were 18.9, 19.9, 22.7, 33.9, 43.3, 44.7, and 45.2.  Those values represent increases annually from 2017 to 2022 of 5%, 14%, 49%, 28%, 3%, and 1%.

State regulations, retailer pledges, and final consumer demand have contributed to a rising share of egg-laying hens housed in cage-free systems over the past decade.

Time flies! As we look back on 2022 here on Consumer Corner, we’re excited to have shared and documented insights from consumer and online media research, lessons from consumers in the (unrelenting, still, seriously?) pandemic-era meets post-pandemic era, decidedly non-traditional takes on management and decision-making, market insights, and our commentary on data, data use, and data analytics.

At the end of the day, it’s about the people. People make the difference in businesses, in schools, in governments, in leadership of organizations, etc.

As we said last week, “At the end of the day, it’s about the people”. And we’re happy to have a whole crew of people here in our department with specialty areas covering all gametes of economics, markets and agriculture.

Way, way back in June of 2020 … you remember those days, right? You were wearing the newest in Zoom fashion (otherwise known as the oldest clothes you owned).

Humans have ever-evolving tastes and preferences. Further, there are times we are interested in being adventurous with new things, and then there are other times when we most certainly are not.

The Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability (CFDAS) recently finished its final report from December 2022.

Egg prices have soared, hitting historically the highest level at $4.25 per dozen in 2022 (BLS, 2023).