FOOD ENGINEERING’s 47th Annual Plant Construction Survey
Construction in the food and beverage industry is continuing, but there’s a bit of “wait and see” happening due to the presidential election occurring later this year.
Most everyone is probably familiar with the idea of a gap year, which is typically defined as a time where students take a break from studies, usually taken during a transition between different levels of learning—essentially a time between different stages of someone’s life. According to this year’s Annual Construction Survey, 2024 might be considered a gap year for construction in the food and beverage industry. The reason? Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, 2024 is an election year. Because of that, companies are taking a wait-and-see approach to bigger-scale projects in general until after the election.
“Since this is an election year, we are seeing food and beverage clients take longer to make decisions on scope and cost early in design due to economic uncertainty,” says Jamie Bailey, vice president of client strategy with McCownGordon. “Some projects have slowed, and others have been put on hold all together. It is a hurry up and wait scenario in most cases.”