Soft drinks tied with athletic shoes at the top of this year’s American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Nondurable Products Study. Food manufacturing as a whole slipped 1% from last year, but the industry still tied for sixth place among the 47 industries assessed.
The results are based on interviews with more than 6,000 consumers, who are asked to evaluate their recent experiences provided by the largest manufacturers in each industry. The food industry as a whole typically does very well. This year, food manufacturing scored a 79 (out of 100), which is a decline of 1 point from last year, but still very close to the top – the highest score any industry achieved was 81.
Hershey’s and Quaker were the two top food brands this year. Both improved 1% to achieve a score of 83. Campbell’s (77), Conagra (77), and Kraft Heinz (76) were at the bottom for the industry.
In the soft drink category, Coca-Cola jumped 6% to go from last in 2021 to first this year, while PepsiCo was at the bottom with the same score as last year. Note that this sublist contains only three major companies (Coca-Cola, Keurig Dr Pepper, and PepsiCo), along with an “All Others” category that combines several smaller soft drink makers.
Among breweries, the top spot was claimed by the “All Others” category, which combines smaller brands (like Samuel Adams and Yuengling) with craft labels. The highest-scoring large company was Constellation Brands, which made its debut on the list this year, while Molson Coors was last. Once again, this list is small – the only other large company assessed was AB InBev.
