Soft Drink and Pre-Packaged Food Wholesaling in Australia - Industry Market Research Report

Food fight: Larger wholesalers projected to bite into SME product lines as competition heats up

Soft drink and pre-packaged food wholesaling's fortunes are closely linked to trends in downstream food-service and retailing industries. Demand from food-service establishments has been volatile, with downstream demand growing strongly prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Food-service establishments are vital to industry performance, as they tend to trust specialised wholesalers to provide high-quality and niche products. For example, coffee shops tend to prefer a specialised coffee bean wholesaler due to their detailed product knowledge and variety of beans available. Restrictions on the operations of food-service establishments constrained demand from this key market during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, revenue is expected to decline at an annual average rate of 2.2% over the five years through 2022-23, to $20.6 billion. This includes an anticipated increase of 0.5% in the current year, as these restrictions continue to ease.

Industry companies wholesale specific grocery or food items that are not classified elsewhere. Wholesalers generally operate as an intermediary in the supply chain by purchasing a range of goods from manufacturers, which they onsell to downstream buyers such as supermarkets, convenience stores and food-service establishments. The industry does not include operators that wholesale three or more grocery lines or manufacturers that are vertically integrated.

This report covers the scope, size, disposition and growth of the industry including the key sensitivities and success factors. Also included are five year industry forecasts, growth rates and an analysis of the industry's key players and their market shares.