2022 was an ~interesting~ year for the food and beverage industry. In addition to a slew of shortages, TikTokers convinced us to mix LaCroix and balsamic vinegar, and then Lindsay Lohan tried to get us to add milk to our Pepsi.

A few slightly more impactful things happened this year, too, so we rounded up the major trends we saw in the industry throughout the year. (It will come as a surprise to no one that they were mostly byproducts of inflation.)

How the labels have turned

Private-label food products had a banner year as US consumers sought cheaper alternatives to reduce their grocery bills.

“One of the top things we’ve been asking for over a year now is how consumers are adjusting, trying to save on groceries,” Emily Moquin, food and beverage analyst at Morning Consult, told us. “And one of the top things consistently over time that people have said is that they’re buying more private-label store brands to save costs.”

• According to a November Morning Consult survey, 81% of consumers said they opted for store brands to save $$.
• Private label had such a big year that a product from Walmart’s owned brand, Great Value, made the Morning Consult’s Fastest Growing Brands 2022 list, with its cream cheese landing at No. 8.

This year, Thrive Market continued to grow its ~$100 million private-label business, expanding into cleaning products, while Misfits Market and GoPuff also intro’d their own brands.

Target’s private label also scored big, generating $30 billion in annual sales, Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO, told investors during its Q3 earnings call.

“Across the portfolio, owned brands continue to outperform their national brand counterparts, growing at double the rate of the total enterprise in the third quarter,” Christina Hennington, Target’s EVP and chief growth officer, said during the same call.

Keep reading here.—EC

We asked our reporters, who play so well with others, to choose a favorite story from 2022 by a Retail Brew colleague.

It’s a gut issue that, fittingly, involves your gut: the vast quantities of food wasted every year that restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores throw out at the end of the day.

Here comes Retail Brew’s Erin Cabrey with a story of an elegant solution by an app called Too Good To Go, where users can buy overstocked food from some of their favorite restaurants and bakeries at a fraction of the price, often as little as one-third of the price or less. Everybody wins!

Obsession is never dull, and Erin wisely tells the story through some of the app’s superfans, whom she found shaking trees in a TGTG Facebook group:

David Niles is a massage therapist from Brooklyn and one of the ~11,700 members of the Too Good to Go NYC Facebook group, where users share where they went and what they got. He’s bought over 1,100 bags through the app. Why? “Because I’m a cheap bastard,” he told us.

Did you see that response coming? Neither did we. Bon appétit.—AAN

Read the whole story by Erin Cabrey here.

We’re breaking down the year in retail month by month, taking a (roughly) chronological look at the year that was through our own reporting.

During Q3, we were laser-focused on sustainability, payments, and luxury. We also embarked on a multi-month exploration of what it really means to be “made in America.”

July

Our theme of the month: Sustainability

It’s critical to continue measuring retailers’ progress toward a sustainable future year-round, but we set aside a month to shine a spotlight on some of their efforts.

Grabbing the headlines:

• Four experts on what excites them about the evolution of sustainable materials*
• Gassed mile: How the USPS’s decision not to purchase more electric vehicles could collide with retailers
• Retailers are rising to the state-mandated challenge of plastic reduction
• Inside the nine-month process of creating Oatly’s annual sustainability report

*Technically published June 30, but we don’t think you’ll hold it against us.

Made in America

• What does it mean for a company to use a ‘Made in USA’ label?
• The state of American manufacturing jobs, in three charts
• Why office-chair maker All33 is moving manufacturing from China to the US
• Consumers will pay more for American-made products, but inflation takes a toll: poll

One of your favorites:

• A look back at the Great Recession and how it changed the retail landscape

Well worth the read:

• “It’s a typical beach day: The sun is shining, the sea is warm, and the sand is making its way into every bag you brought. You pull out your sunscreen with SPF 50, ready to reapply—and then your SPF chapstick and your SPF hairspray. Welcome to summer 2022, where everything has SPF,” wrote Retail Brew’s Jeena Sharma. (SPF is coming to everything)

Keep reading here.—EW

Rounding up some of the best retail beauty reads of the year:

Face the music: As trends shift and the power of beauty YouTubers fades, makeup brand Morphe has struggled to remain relevant to Gen Z shoppers, even with its new identity as a beauty incubator. (the New York Times, March)

Fame game: The celebrity beauty-brand space got even more crowded this year with the debuts of Kim Kardashian’s Skkn by Kim and Hailey Bieber’s Rhode, two buzzy brands with very different approaches. (Business of Fashion, June)

New look: A few weeks after taking over for Glossier founder Emily Weiss as CEO, Kyle Leahy shares the new direction for the company, including a partnership with its first celebrity ambassador, Olivia Rodrigo, and a shift away from DTC. (Vogue Business, July)

Skin deep: Augustinus Bader has emerged as celeb-favorite skincare brand—but who is the eponymous biologist founder anyway? And what’s the science behind his $280 face cream? (Allure, September)

Face value: While many CPG categories like grocery and household staples are seeing growth driven largely by higher prices, mass-market cosmetics makers like Coty, L’Oréal, and e.l.f. are seeing higher volumes as consumers continue to buy into the category. (the Wall Street Journal, November)

The holiday season is one of the most significant moments for retailers, bringing in nearly $800 billion annually.

But what happens after the holiday rush? Many businesses enter a so-called “post-holiday slump,” which can pose a serious financial challenge if they’re not prepared to combat it.

Don’t let that happen to you. Download Retail Brew’s guide for quick tips on finding sales success in the new year.

We also rounded up some of our favorite retail-related stories of the year from our sibling Brews.

Those smart alecks: Part of an entire interactive series on smart cities, this is the story of Phoenix, Arizona’s tech-based, federally funded project to grow its own food. (Emerging Tech Brew)

Bake superior: YouTube creator Liam Kyle Sullivan (of the viral “Muffins” video fame) teamed up with Magnolia Bakery for a campaign promoting the brand’s breakfast-loaf sampler pack. This is an inside look at how it all came together. (Marketing Brew)

Elf wanted: Ahead of the holiday season, companies including Macy’s and UPS got creative, rethinking their seasonal hiring processes as the labor market tightened. (HR Brew)

Secrets to succession: When Tyson Foods appointed 32-year-old John R. Tyson, the great-grandson of its founder, as its new CFO, some experts raised conflict-of-interest concerns. Others offered a different perspective: It’s just good succession planning. (Tyson has since plead not guilty to charges of public intoxication and trespassing.) (CFO Brew)

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed this year.

• How Chipotle is experimenting with BeReal, Gen Z’s new favorite social platform
• Four experts on what excites them about the evolution of sustainable materials
• How DTC menswear brand True Classic is built to grow