Given the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic on SA economic activity, we believe that food producers are facing unprecedented consumer dynamics. We assess job creation and wage growth across various middle-income groups and determine which food producers are best adapted to the expected challenging labour market in 2020. We highlight the opportunities and risks that could materialise owing to the weak ZAR and changing dining patterns. Also, we estimate that increased home cooking to substitute dining out and takeaways could inject R820m – R1.6bn into the food market per month if 10%-20% of restaurant expenditure is directed towards buying food for home cooking.
