Food Engineering – 2025 State of Food Manufacturing Report
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Every figure includes its question wording and base size, with study methodology and fieldwork details included in the report.
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A finding from this report
Volume is going up. So is the cost of every unit that makes it.
Three in five food and beverage manufacturers expect throughput to rise this year. But more of them report higher material costs than report higher volume — and the same is true of total cost per product. Growth is arriving with its margin already under pressure.
Direction of travel, 2024 to 2025
% reporting an increase · average size of that increase
More plants are absorbing higher material costs than are expecting higher volume. Ingredient costs drive it, named by 83% of those seeing material costs rise, ahead of raw materials and transportation.
n=188 food and beverage manufacturing professionals, fielded June 11–26, 2025. Average increases are calculated among those reporting an increase in each measure (n=101 to n=119). Throughput is forward-looking for 2025; costs are reported against 2024. Source: myCLEARopinion Insights Hub & Food Engineering, State of Food Manufacturing 2025.
So where is the money going?
The report follows the budget all the way down — share of spend, dollar bands for plant equipment, and the twenty-four categories of process control hardware and software plants plan to buy this year.
Four more numbers from the study
77%
of facilities say they need equipment upgrades to improve productivity — the single most-cited need, ahead of every training and process fix.
27%
of the average 2025 budget is earmarked for equipment, software and professional services. The report breaks that into dollar bands.
35%
name AI and automation the trend most likely to change their operation over the next five years — nearly double the next answer.
12%
have been the victim of a cyberattack in the past three years — and 13% report taking no steps at all to guard against one.
What we're not showing here
The rest of the 39 pages is the operational detail — every list ranked, every figure carrying its base size, and results cut by company size so you can see where small, mid-size and large plants genuinely diverge.
Page 19
The 2025 buying list
Twenty-four categories of process control hardware and software, ranked by how many plants intend to buy them this year, split by company size. If you sell into these plants, this is the page.
Pages 15–18
Where the budget sits
Dollar amounts set aside for plant equipment, and how the production, packaging and automation budgets moved against last year — including how far they moved.
Pages 21–23
Productivity and structural change
Twenty-two structural changes made in the past year, nineteen productivity needs scored by degree of need, and the strategies actually being used on the floor.
Pages 24–26
Food safety and cyber
Thirteen food safety methods in use, which preventative control plants find hardest to manage, and the defences being put up against cyberattack.
Pages 27–31
Workforce
How staffing levels moved and why, how understaffed plants are covering demand, and what companies are doing to hire and keep qualified people.
Pages 32–38
Trends and profile
The full five-year trend ranking, current and planned sustainability practices, appetite for THC and CBD, and the demographic and firmographic profile of the base.
39 pages · n=188 · fielded annually since 2018
Plan next year against what plants are actually doing.
Budgets, buying intent, staffing and food safety, asked of the people who approve the purchase. Every figure carries its base size and question wording, and results are cut by company size throughout.
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Who was surveyed
188
Usable completes
Food industry professionals involved in buying manufacturing-related equipment, products or services. Fielded June 11–26, 2025.
42%
Approve or authorise spend
Every respondent has purchase influence: 42% approve or authorise outright, 24% select or specify, 23% recommend.
8
Publications sampled
Subscribers across eight food and beverage titles plus the myCLEARopinion panel, so the base spans the whole category rather than one niche.
Sample drawn from subscribers of Food Engineering, Beverage Industry, Candy Industry, Dairy Foods, The National Provisioner, Prepared Foods, Refrigerated & Frozen Foods and Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, alongside the myCLEARopinion panel. Closed-ended data is tabulated in SPSS. Base sizes appear on every chart as “n=xx”; bases of 30 or more are treated as statistically reliable and bases under 15 are read directionally only. Significant differences are flagged at a 90% confidence level, both between response options and between company sizes.
What's in the report
39 pages · table of contents
Study Overview
3–5
Respondent Profile
6–8
Production & Related Costs
9–14
Budget
15–19
Operations
20–26
Employees
27–31
Trends
32–35
Demographics
36–38
Contact Us
39
Frequently asked questions
Are food manufacturing costs still rising in 2025?
Yes, and broadly. 81% of plants report higher material costs per product than in 2024 and 78% report higher total cost per product, with average increases of 12% and 13% respectively. Labor cost per product rose for 64%, by an average of 11%.
What is driving food manufacturing material costs up?
Ingredients first. Among plants reporting a material cost increase, 83% point to higher ingredient costs, 75% to raw materials and 59% to transportation or logistics. Supply chain disruptions and changed supplier contracts follow.
Is food manufacturing throughput growing in 2025?
For most plants, yes. 60% expect gross throughput to increase over 2024, by an average of 20%, while 31% expect it to hold flat and 9% expect a decline. Increased business and new customers are the leading reasons given.
What do food plants need most to improve productivity?
Equipment. 77% of facilities report some or great need for equipment upgrades, the top answer of nineteen tested. Skills training for line operators and supervisors follows closely, then better monitoring of KPIs and supply chain management.
How much of a food plant's budget goes to equipment and software?
An average of 27% of the 2025 budget is designated for production, packaging and process control equipment, software and professional services. The report breaks the plant equipment portion into dollar bands and shows how each budget line moved against last year.
What trend will most change food manufacturing over the next five years?
AI and automation, by a distance. 35% named it, nearly double the next answer of consumer demands and trends at 19%. Health and wellness, cost control and regulatory or tariff pressure follow on level terms.
Does this report name or rank equipment brands?
No. This is an operations and investment study, not a brand study. It measures categories of equipment and software, budgets, practices and workforce — not vendor preference or brand standing. If you need brand-level measurement in your category, that is a separate piece of work we field directly.
Who should buy this report?
Equipment, automation and software suppliers sizing next year's demand; engineering, design and construction firms serving food and beverage plants; and manufacturers benchmarking their own costs, staffing and food safety practice against the category.