The accession to the EU was certainly the most comprehensive change of economic environment since Slovenia gained its independence. Therefore the paper tries to present an overview of the national food industry economic development in the period before the EU accession and the first five years of the EU membership. Based on a framework of economic indicators the paper tries to answer some of the most recurrent questions related to the restructuring process of Slovenian food industry in the last decade. Results confirm that the economic restructuring which had been hindered in the Slovenian food industry during the last decade has been triggered radically after EU accession. This brought to the termination of favourable economic conditions in the highly protected domestic market and deteriorated radically the business performance, and only those food companies which will restructure proactively will sustain in the EU markets.