LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) — Tariffs, Tariffs, Tariffs: It's all people are talking about now, with many concerned over price increases to essentials. Many food & beverage store owners are also on edge of their seats, trying to brace for whatever comes next.
“Day to day, it’s just the unknowns. So it’s kind of a wait and see with our vendors," said Fred Rayle, the Director of Operations at Nino Salvaggio.
That's the message many in the food & beverage industry are telling me.
“It’s an amazing phenomenon because all of this is extremely fluid and it seems like it changes with every 24-hour cycle," said Bill Wild, the CEO of Midwest Independent Research Association.
This comes with about 15 percent of the American food supply and 14 percent of the country's alcohol coming from overseas.
“Right now, it’s all wait and see because they haven’t seen the impact because they tariffs have been they’re going to start, then they’re going to stop, and then," Rayle said.
Rayle tells me they are at the mercy of their American distributors. But he says those American distributors are unable to guarantee pricing because tariffs continue to change almost daily.
“Until they know, I can’t know. I can’t make that decision. But it’s just part of dealing with what we’re dealing with anyway," Rayle said.
Those in the beverage industry, like Clifton Denha, are also keeping a close eye on what's happening for a slightly different reason.
“Consumers are scared. They’re not sure what’s going to happen. They’re not shopping as much because they want to save their money," Denha said.
Clifton says that while the future remains uncertain, they are confident that consumers won't feel the impact in the beverage department.
“A lot of the big companies, they’re going to end up absorbing those costs because they won’t want to take a national hit in pricing because 'hey feel like it’s going to hurt their sales,'” Denha said.
Wild says there hasn't been a financial impact seen yet in the food & beverage industry, the potential is still a real threat. He says there is still hope for the future, and that this is just a bump in the road.
“Small and medium sized businesses are probably going to be disproportionately affected by this because they don’t have the big warehouses," Bill said. “I think we’re going to see some leveling off in the very near future.”
