F&B investing more in NPD and outsourcing

TraceGains finds that among the 300 professionals it surveyed, over half of food and beverage brands are now outsourcing more of their manufacturing compared with three years ago.

The ‘2023 Food and Beverage CPG Innovation Report’ found that staff shortages and operational inefficiencies were the key reasons for an accelerated use of contract manufacturers.

Three-fourths are using this kind of resource to some degree, whilst 47% are working with up to 10 contract manufacturers.

The difficulties of the last few years have encouraged companies to invest more into NPD, embrace automation and expand their global footprint in a bid to diversify their supplier base.