Past, Present, and Future of the Food and Drink Final Market

Abstract

We present the past, present, and future of the food and drink industry from a final consumer market point of view according to three highly complementary components: the final product design, the selling mechanism, and the product pricing. We show how much these have changed in the past and how they will change even more in the future. Last century history exhibited two stages. We moved from a “behind the counter” selling of standardized “Basic Goods” at a price per kilo in the 1890s to highly differentiated “Packed-Dishes” sold in self-service at a price per pack in the 1950s. This present model is now challenged by the industry of the future. One possible scenario may be customized “Service-Diet” that will be sold to any individual on smart platforms at the price of a subscription and home delivered.