As consumers prepare their homes and gardens to host 4th of July festivities, the day before they are swarming the grocery stores to stock up on food and drinks for parties and cookouts and according to Yext Inc. statistics, on July 3th supermarkets experience a dramatic increase in the number of shoppers, which is 24 percent above average.
The celebration of 243 years of independence will be marked with typical festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues across the country.
Food and drinks are an essential part of the 4th of July celebration and for this occasion, Americans are spending $6.78 billions on food items, according to the annual Independence Day survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF).
This year, cookouts, barbecues and picnics continue to be the most popular activity (61%), followed by fireworks and community celebrations (40%), and the NRF survey found the expected spending for food will be $73.3 per person.
Low food prices are favoring consumers for their cookouts this 4th of July and according to an American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) report, the average price of meal for 10 people, including hot dogs, cheeseburgers, pork spare ribs, potato salad, chips, baked beans, lemonade and watermelon, is $52.80 this year, less than 1 per cent up from 2018.
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“All the items that you use for a 4th of July cookout have seen their prices remain very affordable for consumers, so we haven’t seen the cost of the meal increase or decrease dramatically,” said John Newton, the Farm Bureau’s chief economist.
Yahoo Finance reports demand has held up strongly for barbecue staples around the 4th of July holiday, and not just in 2019. During the week of July 4th, 2018, American consumers purchased $631 million worth of fresh beef, an increase of 2.1% year-over-year, according to Nielsen data. Consumer spending on hot dogs during the holiday week also rose by low-single-digit percentages last year.
Declines in prices for many July 4th staples have come as a result of supply-side effects, Harry Kaiser, professor at Cornell’s Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, told Yahoo Finance.
“Supply is high at the farm level – and it’s not like demand is dropping off,” he said.
Before the 4th of July celebration begins, consumers will hit the 5,000 meat markets around the nation to buy their favorite meat products and the snacks they are planning to enjoy will come from any of the approximately 650 snack food manufacturing in the country.