The pandemic bump has driven the snack and bakery industry to new heights. The total worldwide revenue from retail sales in the industry is expected to surpass $400 billion in 2020.

According to the research data analysed and published by Finaria, a huge chunk of that amount will come from the top 25 snack companies by annual revenue worldwide.

Nestle got the top spot courtesy of its $101.5 billion 2019 revenue. PepsiCo is second with $67.2 billion while Mars, is third with $35.0 billion, said the report.

Mondelez International is ranked fifth with $25.9 billion, Kraft Heinz sixth with $25.0 billion and General Mills seventh with $16.9 billion. Other popular names on the top 10 include Kellogg Co. in the eighth spot with $13.6 billion and Ferrero in the ninth spot with $12.6 billion.

Ferrero debuted on the list courtesy of its growing list of acquisitions. In 2019, the company acquired Keebler from Kellogg. The deal seems to have paid off as Keebler’s cookie category has sold over $100 million in 2020.

Nutella products and Nutella To Go crackers, also part of the Ferrero family, are also performing well. They were estimated to be worth $92 million by Snack and Bakery at the beginning of December 2020.

Top 25 F&B firms net $91bn

Based on the 2020 Forbes’ Global 2000 report, the top 25 companies in the food and beverage industry generated $815 billion in revenue over the one-year period ending in May 2020.

That was a slight improvement over the $800 billion posted during a similar period in 2019. The period also saw an increase in profits, going from $80 billion to $91 billion.

Nestle retained the top spot on this list as well thanks to its top performing products that include Stouffer’s, Hot Pockets and DiGiorno. It has also had a remarkable performance with its coffee brand Nespresso. 30 per cent of the conglomerate’s sales come from the US market.

Its total profit is approaching $13 billion, marking a 30 per cent year-over-year (YoY) increase. On the overall Global 2000 list, Nestle ranked No 41, moving up one spot from 2019. It has held the title of top food company globally for over 10 years, with the exception of a brief dethronement in 2018 by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Pepsi Co was second on the list and No 87 on the overall list, with $68.2 in sales and $7.2 billion in profit. Its close rival Coca Cola ranked third and 96 overall with $37.2 billion in sales and almost $10 billion in profit.

Unilever took the fourth spot and at No 110 overall with sales worth $58.2 billion and $6.3 billion as profit.

Mondelez International was fifth and No 188 overall, having made $26 billion in sales and $3.7 in profit during the period.

AB InBev tops list

Notably, Anheuser-Busch InBev is ranked first on the list of the top drinks companies in 2020 according to Drinks Insight Network. It had $52.3 billion in revenue during the year 2019 from beverages alone and over 80 different offerings for different occasions.

However, it was negatively impacted by pandemic-related restrictions, suffering a 12 per cent YoY revenue decline during H1 2020.

The company had a slight recovery in Q3 2020, posting a 4 per cent increase in revenue. Its global brand portfolio, including Stellar Artois, Budweiser and Corona had a revenue surge of 8.1 per cent. High End Company segment which includes crafts and specialty surged 6.5 per cent.

Beer volumes during the quarter increased by 2.6 per cent while non-beer volumes declined by 2.5 per cent. For the first nine months of 2020, the total company revenue sank by 6.8 per cent. 

According to Drinks Insight Network, Coca Cola is the second biggest drinks company in 2020, followed by Nestle. PepsiCo is fourth on the list.

The top three companies on the Global 2000 food and beverage list as well as the number 2 to number 4 drinks companies also featured prominently on a less appealing list. Coca Cola was found to be the No 1 plastic polluter on the 2020 Break Free from Plastic rankings. Its branding appeared on 13,834 pieces of discarded plastic.

This is the third consecutive year for the beverage brand in the top spot. In 2019, Coca Colas was the most frequently littered brand in 37 out of 51 (60.7 per cent) countries surveyed. The figure rose to 51 out of 55 (92.7 per cent) in 2020.

Coca Cola’s figure was higher than that of the next two combined. Nestle was the No 2 with 8,633 while PepsiCo took the No 3 spot with 5,155.