Food & Beverage Is Spending Billions on AI. The Payoff Is Still Unclear

How Food & Beverage Leaders Can Turn Artificial Intelligence Into Measurable Operational and Margin Value Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the food and beverage sector, with manufacturers, distributors, restaurant groups, and CPG brands directing significant capital into tools designed to optimize demand forecasting, streamline supply chains and production, reduce waste, and generate predictive insights across operations. Yet despite this surge in investment, the financial return for many organizations remains difficult to quantify. McKinsey finds that while nearly nine in ten companies are investing in AI, only about four in ten can trace any measurable EBIT impact — and most of those gains account for less than five percent of profit, suggesting that a large share of today’s AI spending remains experimental rather than economically productive. Gartner has repeatedly warned that the majority of AI projects fail to deliver sustained business value without disciplined governance and operational integration. Leaders feel the tension. Investors demand capital efficiency. Boards ask harder questions. Where is the return. When does it show up. What risk have we introduced along the way. Mamatha Chamarthi does not approach these questions as a theorist. She answers them as an operator who has delivered at scale. She scaled a … The post Food & Beverage Is Spending Billions on AI. The Payoff Is Still Unclear appeared first on Food & Beverage Magazine.