After two years of consumers holding steady, the question is, why now?

JFC there is literally one reason why people would stop purchasing something critical for sustaining life... And it's not "summer travel." At least they included the part about high profits despite decreasing sales; too bad they glossed right over that.

2/5 stars article (because they at least said the quiet part out loud, before attempting to wave it away with utter nonsense).

I've had to get used to buying as cheap and little as possible. thankfully I don't have any kids to worry about, because the cheap stuff isn't the healthiest. Kool aid, bread, peanut butter, bologna, pot pies, and ramen mostly. sometimes I splurge on eggs, cheese, and meat. I have some canned goods, but save them for when I run out of the perishables. I don't see food getting any more affordable. my heart goes out to those with children.

It's probably because a gallon of milk is 7 dollars.

Connolly provided some possible reasons for the new behavior.

First, he said, consumers may be trying to save money because this summer will likely be “more travel intensive” than last year, something he believes will be a temporary shift.

Other reasons he gave include deflationary trends in a few single-ingredient items and lower pension incomes.

Regarding what the company can do to stimulate demand, Connolly said he is not a fan of deep-discount promotions, because those tend to train the shopper to look for deals.

“So we don’t like those kinds of promotions,” he said. “But in the current environment with the consumer that is cutting back and making other choices, we probably are more likely to see some players resort to harder deals to stimulate units.”

Blind tone deaf MBA piece of shit

Sounds like consumers are saving money by cutting down on how much junk food they buy, based on the brands mentioned.