American life in the 1800s looked vastly different than today. Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the 1800s saw the newly established United States of America expand from a largely agrarian society to an industrial powerhouse. 

Like the past year, one major theme affecting the cost of food and beverages is inflation. For the 12 months ending Aug. 13, the consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.7% compared to the prior year. Because of inflation, many categories in our State of the Industry issue did exceedingly well dollar-sales wise, but unit sales didn't always sparkle.

While it is typically obvious when a team wins, loses or ties (although ties are a rarity in sports these days), in the commodity export world, a win depends on how you define it. 

When it comes to butter, sales are serving up plenty of aces, with very few faults. 

When U.S. American gymnast and seven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles goes for the gold at the XXXIII Olympic Summer Games in Paris next year, the 4’ 8” dynamo will bring her artistry, strength, and power to the vault (Yurchenko double pike vault, now named the Biles II), floor exercise, balance beam, and parallel bars.

In terms of ice cream and frozen novelty sales, matching a “Super Bowl champion”-level performance like those of the Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes in 2020 and 2023, which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic for ice cream, when consumers sought a home indulgence, is difficult to replicate. 

The pickleball craze is sweeping the nation. While the sport began in Washington State in 1965, the number of people playing pickleball today is skyrocketing.

It always happens so quickly. The end of another year is almost upon us.

Although perhaps not the impressive gold-medal victory achieved by the U.S. Men’s Olympic hockey team over the Russian’s in 1980 in Lake Placid, N.Y., most areas of the non-dairy market are scoring plenty of goals, with the exception of the juice market, which is biding its next chance to skate through a slump.

Natural cheese — and the diverse types of shredded, chunks, slices, string/stick, crumbled, cubes, ricotta, and all other forms — generated $17.4 billion in dollar sales, a year-over-year (YoY) increase of 7%.