The food and beverage (F&B) industry is a massive industry in the United States. The U.S. is home to over 39,000 food and beverage processing plants, which employ about 2.1 million people. This is over 16% of the manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Meat processing plants make up 29%, bakeries are 15%, and beverage processing plants make up 12% of the 2.1 million F&B manufacturing jobs in the country.

Some of the states with the most food and beverage manufacturing jobs are California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Florida. Heading into 2026, California has approximately 6,100 F&B manufacturing plants, while New York has 2,900, Texas has 2,500, Pennsylvania has 1,800, Illinois has 1,600, and Florida has 1,500.

In spite of the fact that numerous industries had suffered losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the F&B industry has held up fairly well against such odds. Although public dining temporarily decreased due to closures and fluctuating consumer confidence, the massive growth of at-home consumption helped offset this. This growth came with increased e-commerce and delivery options.

The pandemic also proved to be an opportunity for the industry to engage in innovations. For example, McDonald’s heavily promoted convenient and contactless ways to purchase food via things like drive-throughs and mobile order-and-pay. Dunkin’ partnered with delivery apps as more companies realized that they could no longer rely on older business models. Panera added grocery items to their offerings as more entities shifted to selling retail with traditional meal revenues being reduced.

There were even cases of farmers selling directly to consumers. The industry has clearly learned to accommodate and adapt to changes, which continues to benefit it as well as consumers today.