Over half the SKUs a typical food and beverage brand is holding stock for right now haven't sold a single unit in three months. And every day they sit there, they age toward a point where a food or beverage product becomes unsellable. In the U.K., only one in four new food and beverage product launches reach 1% household penetration in their first year (NielsenIQ, 2026). U.S. retail food and beverage sales grew 2.2% in the first half of 2026, but that growth came entirely from higher prices. Single-channel food and beverage brands carry a median dead-stock rate of 66.7%.