It is hardly a secret that overseas manufacturing and outsourcing has greatly reduced urban manufacturing in the United States. For New York City in particular, the days of a thriving industrial sector are a thing of the past.
But according to a 2015 economic snapshot from NYCEDC, New York City’s up-and-coming food manufacturing sector is looking like a promising start to a new era of industrial regeneration that could decide the future of urban manufacturing.
In the period between 2000 and 2006, the number of food manufacturing businesses dropped by almost 10 percent. By 2013, the number of establishments regenerated to 1,088, according to a U.S. census county business patterns report of macro trends in food manufacturing from 2005 to 2012.
Propelled by retail bakeries and pre-made perishable meal production, the growth in small food manufacturing businesses is largely responsible for the increase.
Though the food manufacturing sector is reportedly made up of 10 subsectors, commercial and retail bakeries dominate the market while establishments that produce perishable meals are on the rise. Perhaps the biggest players in the growing New York food industry are local, artisan markets producing locally branded goods, which have increasingly become associated with the “foodie” culture seen in certain areas of Brooklyn.
Industry cluster analytics indicate that the major hubs of food production in the city are Brooklyn’s Bushwick, Sunset Park, Hunts Point, Bensonhurst and Jamaica, Queens.
Though the emerging trends in New York food manufacturing are still young, NYCEDC suggests that as smaller businesses incubate throughout the city and migrate to a centralized hub, it may indicate a larger trend in the city’s economy where food production remains decentralized and varied across the five boroughs.
