Memorial Day signals the traditional start of the summer grilling season, with meat and poultry promotions typically dominating the front page of grocery circulars around the country. Retailers usually highlight variety and convenience, while pushing volume with meat as the center of plate.
This year, however, tight supply along with price inflation and continued social distancing measures created a very different marketplace and demand. Purchase limits remained in place for many popular cuts, all the while more states allowed restaurants to re-open dine-in facilities, altering the demand landscape yet again. Despite the supply pressure, dollar sales grew 20.7% the week of May 24 versus year ago and volume grew 5.1%. The volume/dollar gap widened to 15.6 percentage points.