Grocery supply chains connect farms, processors, importers, wholesalers, retailers, warehouses, and households. The U.S. measures below show the system’s scale, spending flows, demand shifts, food loss, concentration, and temperature-controlled capacity across clearly defined periods.
Key Grocery Supply Chain Statistics
The most useful headline figures include:
- In the United States, domestically produced food spending averaged $1.73 trillion per year from 2017 through 2023.
- In the United States, food-at-home expenditure averaged $780 billion per year from 2017 through 2023.
- U.S. farms produced an average of $230 billion in farm commodities per year from 2017 through 2023.
- U.S. food processors added an average of $291 billion of value per year from 2017 through 2023.
- Farms received 11.9 cents of each dollar spent on domestically produced food in the United States in 2023.
- Direct imports represented 15% of U.S. food and beverage purchases in 2023.
- Wholesale and retail trade together received 26.1 cents of a typical U.S. food dollar in 2023.
- U.S. grocery wholesalers sold $758 billion of grocery and related products in 2021.
- The U.S. grocery-wholesaling industry included more than 4,500 businesses in 2021.
- U.S. food-at-home spending increased 2.8% among consumer units from 2023 to 2024.
- U.S. retail food prices rose 11% from 2021 to 2022.
- At U.S. retail and consumer levels, 133 billion pounds of food went uneaten in 2010, equal to 31% of available food.
- U.S. supermarkets had an estimated 11.6% loss rate for 31 fresh vegetables, using 2011–2012 rates applied to 2016 quantities.
- The four largest U.S. beef packers controlled 85% of beef processing in 2019.
- Americold owned or leased 92 distribution centers with approximately 655.9 million cubic feet of temperature-controlled capacity on December 31, 2024.
- Target reported 66 supply-chain facilities totaling 68.5 million square feet on February 1, 2025.
- Kroger ended fiscal 2024 with 2,731 supermarkets and 182 million square feet of supermarket space.
Contents
- Grocery supply chain scale and food-dollar statistics
- Wholesale distribution and grocery network data
- Grocery retail demand and spending trends
- Food loss and fresh-produce supply chain statistics
- Supply chain concentration and supplier dependence
- Cold-storage and temperature-controlled logistics statistics
Grocery Supply Chain Scale and Food-Dollar Statistics
The USDA Economic Research Service Food Dollar model describes spending allocations and value added across the domestic food system. These are modeled allocations, not cash margins, and the USDA notes that its Food Dollar 2.0 methodology revises historical values.
| Measure | Period | U.S. estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Domestically produced food spending | 2017–2023 average | $1.73 trillion per year |
| Food-at-home expenditure | 2017–2023 average | $780 billion per year |
| Farm commodity production | 2017–2023 average | $230 billion per year |
| Food-processing value added | 2017–2023 average | $291 billion per year |
Source: A More Detailed Food Dollar: Enhanced Accounting of U.S. Food Costs. Food at home includes groceries and other retail food outlets, while the farm figure covers commodities supporting the domestic supply chain.
In 2023, farms received 11.9 cents per dollar spent on domestically produced food. That is a Food Dollar marketing-bill farm share, not a grocery-store retail-margin measure.
Import exposure also has two definitions. Direct imports were 15% of U.S. food and beverage purchases in 2023, leaving 85% produced through the domestic supply chain in the ERS accounting; embedded imports represented 4% of the domestically produced portion because domestic production can still use imported ingredients and non-food inputs.
Source: Imports accounted for less than 20 percent of U.S. food and beverage spending in 2023.
Wholesale Distribution and Grocery Network Data
Wholesale and retail trade together received 26.1 cents of a typical U.S. food dollar in 2023. Wholesale trade received 11.4 cents and retail trade 14.7 cents, although the retail allocation includes grocery stores, wholesale clubs, restaurant supply, and other food-distribution outlets.
| Food-dollar allocation | 2023 | 1993–2023 average |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale trade | 11.4 cents | 10.6 cents |
| Retail trade | 14.7 cents | 13.9 cents |
| Wholesale plus retail | 26.1 cents | Not reported as a combined figure |
Source: Imports accounted for less than 20 percent of U.S. food and beverage spending in 2023. Series averages can be affected by methodology revisions.
The Federal Trade Commission’s 2024 grocery supply-chain report gives an industry-scale view of wholesaling. U.S. grocery wholesalers sold $758 billion of grocery and related products in 2021, while the industry included more than 4,500 businesses and about 167,000 employees.
C&S Wholesale Grocers supplied more than 7,500 outlets in 2021, including independent supermarkets, chain stores, and military bases. These industry and company figures are not limited to retail-only customers or the entire grocery sector; they are reported in Feeding America in a Time of Crisis: The U.S. Grocery Supply Chain and the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Grocery Retail Demand and Spending Trends
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey figures describe nominal spending by U.S. consumer units. They should not be read as inflation-adjusted changes unless the measure is explicitly identified as CPI inflation.
| Food-at-home category | Change in average spending, 2023–2024 |
|---|---|
| All food at home | +2.8% |
| Fruit and vegetables | −3.5% |
| Cereal and bakery products | −6.1% |
| Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs | +21.5% |
| Beef | +32.0% |
| Poultry | +24.8% |
| Fish and seafood | +21.7% |
| Pork | +19.8% |
Source: Consumer expenditures in 2024. Average U.S. food spending increased 1.8% overall in 2024, while food-at-home inflation was 1.2%.
Egg spending rose 6.1% from 2023 to 2024, while egg inflation was 8.5%. The spending measure covers U.S. consumer units, whereas the cited CPI comparison is for all urban consumers, so the two percentages describe different measures.
These category changes show why grocery logistics must respond to product-level demand rather than only aggregate food spending. A supply chain can face sharply different purchasing signals for beef, produce, bakery products, eggs, and seafood during the same annual period.
Food Loss and Fresh-Produce Supply Chain Statistics
The USDA ERS estimated that 133 billion pounds of the 430-billion-pound U.S. available food supply went uneaten at retail and consumer levels in 2010. That was 31% of available food, with an estimated retail value of about $162 billion and 141 trillion kilocalories.
The same estimate equaled roughly 1.2 pounds per person per day and more than $1.40 per person per day in retail value. These are derived per-capita conversions from the national estimate, not separate current observations.
Source: Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System – Food Loss.
Fresh produce provides a more specific supermarket view, but its period must be kept explicit. Loss rates were estimated from 2,900 U.S. supermarkets in 2011–2012 and applied to 2016 quantities; they should not be presented as current loss rates.
- For 31 fresh vegetables, average supermarket loss was 11.6% of shipments, and modeled 2016 loss totaled 6.2 billion pounds before removing nonedible parts.
- After removing nonedible peels, stalks, and other parts, the modeled 2016 vegetable loss was 5 billion pounds.
- For 24 fresh fruits, estimated supermarket loss rates ranged from 4.1% for bananas to 43.1% for papayas.
- Fresh-pineapple retail loss was estimated at 719 million pounds in 2016 from 2.2 billion pounds available for sale.
- Total modeled loss for the 24 fresh fruits was 6.7 billion pounds in 2016 before removing nonedible pits and peels, or 4.7 billion pounds after that edible-weight adjustment.
Grocery Supply Chain Concentration and Supplier Dependence
Processing concentration can shape supplier dependence and resilience, but it is not the same as retail concentration. USDA estimates cited by the FTC reported that the four largest processors controlled 85% of U.S. beef processing, 53% of chicken processing, and 67% of pork processing in 2019.
| Processing segment | Four largest processors, 2019 | Geography |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | 85% | United States |
| Chicken | 53% | United States |
| Pork | 67% | United States |
The FTC also cited a 2023 estimate that private-label or store-branded products represented roughly 15%–20% of U.S. grocery sales. The report cautions that company-specific figures and industry estimates should not be treated as measurements of the whole grocery sector.
Tyson Foods reported $53.3 billion in 2022 sales: $19.9 billion beef, $6.4 billion pork, $17.0 billion chicken, and $9.7 billion prepared foods. Its sales allocation was 43.7% to retail establishments, 29.4% to foodservice, 15.2% to international sales, and 11.7% to industrial or other customers.
During the early pandemic, U.S. at-home food purchases rose as much as 56% above the prior year in some weeks, then stabilized at roughly 7% above the prior year from July 2020 through March 2021. U.S. retail food prices rose 11% from 2021 to 2022, compared with an FTC-cited benchmark of about 2% average annual increases during the preceding decade.
Food and beverage retailer revenue exceeded total costs by more than 6% in 2021 and by 7% in the first three quarters of 2023. The recent peak in this Census-based revenue-over-costs measure was 5.6% in 2015; it is not an accounting net-margin measure.
Source: Feeding America in a Time of Crisis: The U.S. Grocery Supply Chain and the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Cold-Storage and Temperature-Controlled Logistics Statistics
Company disclosures illustrate the physical footprint of grocery logistics, but they are not industry totals and generally include non-grocery activity.
Americold reported 92 owned or leased distribution centers as of December 31, 2024, with approximately 655.9 million cubic feet of temperature-controlled capacity and about 2.3 million pallet positions. Its 81 public warehouses represented approximately 402.6 million cubic feet and 1.7 million pallet positions, while four third-party managed warehouses represented approximately 14.9 million cubic feet.
| Network example | Period | Facilities | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Americold distribution centers | Dec. 31, 2024 | 92 | 655.9 million cubic feet; 2.3 million pallet positions |
| Americold public warehouses | Dec. 31, 2024 | 81 | 402.6 million cubic feet; 1.7 million pallet positions |
| Americold third-party managed warehouses | Dec. 31, 2024 | 4 | 14.9 million cubic feet |
| Target supply-chain facilities | Feb. 1, 2025 | 66 | 68.5 million square feet |
Sources: Americold Realty Trust 2024 Form 10-K and Target Corporation 2024 Form 10-K. Target’s facilities include distribution, sortation, and other supply-chain facilities, not grocery-only space.
Kroger ended fiscal 2024 with 2,731 supermarkets. During the fiscal year it opened 16 stores and 7 relocation stores, closed 7 operating stores and 7 relocation stores, and reported 182 million square feet of supermarket space at the fiscal-year end.
Source: The Kroger Co. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 1, 2025. Kroger’s square-footage figure describes supermarkets, not distribution space.