Food and drink manufacturers are heading into 2026 under sustained pressure. Rising costs, ongoing workforce shortages and increasing regulatory complexity are no longer short-term disruptions. They are structural realities shaping how the sector operates.
Recent research from the Food and Drink Federation highlights just how challenging the environment has become. According to the Federation’s latest industry analysis, UK food inflation reached 4.9 percent in July and was forecast to climb to 5.7 percent by December 2025. Since January 2020, food and non-alcoholic drink prices have increased by 37 percent, significantly outpacing overall UK inflation.
Against this backdrop, workforce decisions are becoming increasingly critical and several workforce trends stand out not because they are new, but because their impact is intensifying.
Workforce shortages are now a planning problem, not just a hiring problem
Workforce shortages remain one of the sector’s biggest challenges, but the manufacturers coping best are no longer treating them as a recruitment issue alone.
With employment costs rising, many businesses have been forced to make difficult trade-offs. Food and Drink Federation research shows that 66 percent of food and drink businesses have already reduced or plan to reduce headcount, 74 percent have passed some costs on to consumers, and 29 percent have reduced or cancelled plans to invest in the UK.
In this environment, inefficient workforce planning becomes a direct risk to output and margins. Reliance on spreadsheets or last-minute rota changes often leads to escalating overtime costs, higher absence and fatigue, increased pressure on supervisors, and reduced consistency during peak periods.
More manufacturers are shifting towards workforce planning that mirrors production planning. This means using data, forecasts and visibility to align people with demand more precisely.
Seasonality remains, but rigidity is now the bigger risk
Seasonal peaks continue to define food and drink manufacturing. What has changed is how much risk rigid workforce models introduce.
Heavy reliance on temporary staff or reactive scheduling during peak periods increases exposure to quality inconsistencies, safety and compliance issues, and burnout during critical production windows.
Rather than absorbing peaks through constant firefighting, leading manufacturers are building year-round workforce agility. This includes blending permanent teams with flexible scheduling, agency support and earlier planning to smooth demand rather than react to it. Seasonality is not disappearing, but the cost of handling it without foresight continues to rise.
Workforce inefficiency is becoming a margin issue
As inflation and regulation drive up operating costs, small inefficiencies in workforce management are compounding quickly.
Issues such as payroll inaccuracies, short-notice absences, limited visibility of attendance trends and overreliance on overtime may seem manageable in isolation. Over the course of a year, they can significantly erode already tight margins.
Manufacturers are paying closer attention to where staff inefficiency hides and how better oversight can prevent problems before they escalate.
Compliance complexity will continue to increase
Food and drink manufacturing has always operated under strict regulatory requirements. What is changing is the complexity of compliance across multi-site operations and increasingly flexible shift patterns.
Many compliance issues are not caused by intent or negligence. They are the result of limited visibility. Manual processes make it difficult to spot breaches early, particularly when working hours, rest periods and overtime vary across teams and locations.
As regulatory scrutiny remains high, manufacturers are placing greater emphasis on real-time visibility of working patterns, consistent compliance across sites without removing local flexibility, and reducing reliance on retrospective audits.
In 2026, compliance is shifting from reactive correction to preventative design.
Why workforce resilience will separate leaders from the rest
Taken together, rising costs, staffing constraints and increasing compliance complexity are forcing food and drink manufacturers to rethink how they manage their workforce.
The organisations performing best are those that can adapt quickly to absences, demand shifts and unexpected disruption without compromising output or quality. Now, this level of workforce resilience is becoming a genuine competitive advantage.
Crucially, resilience is not about pushing teams harder or asking managers to firefight more efficiently. It is about planning better, identifying risks earlier, and building structures that support both performance and people across the operation.
What this means for food and drink manufacturers
For food and drink manufacturers, turning these pressures into a manageable reality requires more than incremental improvements. It requires better visibility of workforce data, earlier insight into emerging risks, and the ability to plan your workforce with the same rigour applied to production.
This is where workforce management platforms like Crown Workforce Management play a practical role. By providing real-time visibility of attendance, hours, absence trends and compliance risks, manufacturers are better able to move away from reactive scheduling and last-minute firefighting.
Rather than relying on spreadsheets or manual oversight, teams can spot issues earlier, adjust plans with confidence, and maintain control across complex shift patterns and multiple sites. The result is not just improved efficiency, but greater resilience in an environment where margins and confidence remain under pressure.
