Sligro Food Group is active in almost all segments of the food market. This market comprises both the out-of-home channel (otherwise known as food service) and the at-home channel (or food retail).

The success of our activities depends primarily, both directly and indirectly, on consumer expenditure in the Netherlands. The long-term trend in the market is that food service is gaining market share over food retail. This depends in part on improvements in welfare, an increase in the number of small households, the ageing population, greater interest in leisure and recreation and changing eating patterns.

Economic prosperity reinforces the effect, while economic decline delays or to some extent brings about a reverse. In both segments there is a gradual increase in concentration in both supply and demand, and in producers of foodstuffs.