The beef industry has done a remarkable job adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic and the change it created in consumer beef demand. Supply chains shifted away from the food service and restaurant sectors and toward the grocery side as consumers prepared more meals at home with closures of and restrictions in restaurant operations. Fundamentally, the summer beef market is typically less reliant on the food service sector, but as winter nears, the switch in that trend is raising some demand concerns. Consumers typically rely more on the food service sector during the winter, and with COVID-19’s continued challenges to that sector, winter beef demand is “a bit tricky to assess,” one economist says. Demand and subsequent pricing will likely vary widely between different beef cuts as winter advances and macroeconomic consumer trends unfold. See more beef business analysis.