Foodservice equipment sales beat forecasts for the end of 2022, but growth continued to slow as the industry normalized, according to the latest Manufacturers’ Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry (MAFSI) Business Barometer.
Sales were up 8.7 percent in Q4 2022, beating expectations of 8 percent growth. However, those results represent a decline from the height of the pandemic rebound, when sales were up 19 percent in Q2 2021. Since then, growth has gradually slowed and MAFSI is now projecting a 7 percent increase for Q1 2023.
One positive of the slowing growth is that the industry is catching up with demand. MAFSI noted that most manufacturers are reporting smaller backlogs thanks to shorter lead times. Supply chain problems have mostly eased, allowing for shorter cycle ordering. As a result, equipment and supplies production is now near peak levels. This is helping drive a healthy business climate, as both consultant and quoting activity were up in Q4 2022, 30 percent and 43 percent respectively.
The South region led with 11.4 percent growth in Q4 2022, followed by the West (9.9 percent), Midwest (8.9 percent), Canada (6.4 percent) and the Northeast (6.2 percent).
Looking ahead, MAFSI projects that a healthy pipeline of projects will generate solid business activity for the first half of 2023 before the impact of rising interest rates and banking issues is realized in the second half of the year.
To read the full MAFSI Business Barometer, please click here.