GCG’s Q2 2026 Food & Beverage Industry Update provides an overview of the latest trends in the sector, including recent performance, valuation multiples, and the state of the middle-market M&A environment.

Key findings include the following:

• The sorting is finished and is now being priced. In Q2 2026, function became the entry fee rather than the differentiator, the shelf pulled apart at both ends as value and premium grew and the middle gave up ground, and mega deals returned to reshape rather than consolidate as buyers paid up for evidence, not narrative.
• M&A deal count came in at 138 in Q2 2026, down from Q1 2026 and level with the same period last year. The split between strategic and financial buyers shifted to 62% / 38% as financial sponsors took a larger share of activity, while strategic buyers remain highly active.
• Public F&B equities remained behind the broad market indices, although the gap compressed from the prior quarter. Distributors led F&B sub-sectors, while Branded Packaged Goods, Food Retail, and Restaurants continued to trail as private label, the unwinding trade-up cycle, and persistent labor cost and traffic pressure weighed on results.

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