The catering market - Italy

1.2 World market

The world catering market is expected to be valued at $***.* billion in **** and to reach $***.* billion by ****.

World Catering Market World, ****-****, billion USD Source: ****

Catering and food service companies are forming alliances to serve food to schools, colleges and universities. They are also involved in developing mobile apps that provide food options tailored to meet each individual's needs. For example, in March ****, Sodexo, a foodservice and facilities management company, announced a partnership with HelloFresh, a leader in meal kits, to provide HelloFresh and EveryPlate meal kits to students at more than *** colleges and universities in the United States. Students can pre-select, order and schedule meal kit delivery using an App.

Major companies in the catering services and food service enterprise market include Compass group plc, Sodexo, Aramark corporation, Elior Group, Autogrill SpA, SSP Group plc, Lufthansa Group, DO & CO AG, Samsung C&T Corporation, and Thompson Hospitality.

Western Europe was the largest region in the market for catering services and food contractors in ****. North America was the second largest region in the catering services and food contractors market.

1.3 Domestic market grows

We analyze the numbers of two ATECO headings below:

**.**"Canteens and continuous catering on a contract basis," which includes the operation of canteens (***) under concession and the provision of prepared meals for transportation companies, hospitals, schools, etc **.**"Provision of prepared meals (***)," which includes the catering service for events such as: banquets, dinner parties, weddings, receptions, conventions, congresses and other celebrations or ceremonies

We see that the former is much more important than the latter, as it addresses mandatory structural needs (***) in an almost exclusively B*B environment. The second is about B*C and is smaller. According to national ISTAT data, from **** to ****, the turnover of the canteen sector has remained fairly stable, for the same reasons (the change was only +*% while, on the other hand, the turnover of the event catering sector increased much more with a change of +**%.

Catering sector turnover Italy, ****-****, millions of euros Source: ****

2.1 Demand sectors: events and fairs, wedding planning, residential care facilities

Events and trade shows

The organization of events and fairs is a sector that leads that of catering services, because for every reception it is necessary to provide food for guests, especially when it is a corporate event (***).we can therefore analyze the evolution of the sector registered under ATECO code **.**, which includes the organization, promotion and/or management of events, such as fairs, congresses, conferences and meetings, including or not the management and provision of operating personnel within the facilities where the events take place.

We see in the graph below that this sector is doing well and experiencing an increase in its total annual turnover since **** with a change of +**% from **** to ****, after a gradual decline from **** to **** (***).

Turnover of the sector "Organization of conventions and fairs" Italy, ****-****, millions of euros Source: ****

The organization of weddings

The activity recorded under ATECO **.**.** "Organization of parties and ceremonies," which includes theorganization of weddings, birthdays and so on, is also part of the demand for catering and banqueting. However, turnover data for such a precise section are not publicly available, and analyzing the turnover of section **.**"Personal service activities nca" would not be representative of the sector we are interested ...

2.2 Demand trend: the increasing focus on sustainable food in catering

For ecological reasons, the attention of restaurant customers is increasingly turning to food waste. In the chart below, it can be seen that throughout the supply chain, the restaurant sector is by far the one that produces the most food waste in value, often due to a mismatch between restaurant supply and diner demand.

In ****, according to Federlegno and Regusto, the restaurant sector produced *.* billion euros compared to only *.* billion for primary production and *** million euros for large-scale retail.

Value of waste along the entire production chain Italy, ****, in billion euros Source: ****

If we look instead at the detail of the share of waste by department, with data from ****, we notice that the most wasted foods are by far vegetables and tubers (***).

Share of waste by department by weight Italy, ****, in percent Source: ****

Consumers are therefore increasingly interested in the sustainability of their meals, even when they are not eating at home : **% think it is very or fairly important that"restaurants operate in a socially and environmentally sustainable way."[***] In addition, again according to FIPE, a restaurant can be defined as sustainable if it adopts the following policies: **.* percent of Italians consider a restaurant sustainable if it limits food waste, **.* percent ...

2.3 An interest in this service that diminishes over the years

If you pay attention to Google Trends data, you can see that interest in catering services has decreased dramatically since ****.

It is assumed that the search for this term is not for mass catering, but rather for buffet and event catering services.

Search interest "Catering" Italy, ****-****, Google Trends Index Source: ****

N.B. The graph above represents the index of searches for the keyword "Catering" in Italy, between **** and ****, compared to when the rate of use of this keyword was highest (***). So a value of ** means that the keyword was used twice less in the region in question, while a value of * means that there is insufficient data for this keyword.

Seasonality of demand for canteens

If canteens are by definition a year-round service in principle, we can also note the seasonality of demand for the service.

In fact, Google Trends searches reveal, in the graph below, that demand for canteens always needs to be around September, which is around back-to-school time.

Search Interest "Canteen" Italy, ****-****, Google Trends Index Source: ****

N.B. The graph above represents the index of searches for the keyword "Mensa" in Italy, between **** and ****, compared to when the rate of use of this keyword was highest ...

3.1 The structure of Italian enterprises in the industry

We can see in the following two graphs that the structure of the sectors we analyze has not changed much since ****. The number of enterprises in event catering increased by +*% and that of contract canteens decreased by -**%. Employment in the former increased by +**% and employment in the latter by +*%.

Number of enterprises in the catering sector Italy, ****-****, units Source: ****

Employment in the catering sector Italy, ****-****, units Source: ****

Geographical breakdown of activities

The ATECO code used in the map below is that of macrosector ** "Food and beverage service activities" and includes restaurants and mobile food service activities [***], the provision of prepared meals (***).

3.2 The companies that lead the Italian market

The following data are excerpts from the ReportAziende website and are not exhaustive. They aim as being representative of the market for which they are used.

Listed below are the most important firms in the Continued Catering on a contract basis sector, with corresponding market shares.

Market shares of companies in the "Continued Catering on a contract basis" sector Italy, ****, % Source: ****

canteen

Market shares of companies in the "Canteens" sector Italy, ****, % Source: ****

event catering and banqueting

Market shares of enterprises in the "Event catering, banqueting" sector Italy, ****, % Source: ****

4.1 Analysis of prices charged in the market

We analyze below the idice of consumer prices for Italians of"Restaurants, bars and the like," "Business canteens," and "School canteens."

We clearly note that all three prices have been gradually rising since ****.

Price index for restaurants and canteens Italy, ****-****, base ****=*** Source: ****

The data presented in the following graph serves us to get an order of magnitude on the distribution of catering costs.

Distribution of the cost of a meal for mass catering France, ****, in % Source: ****

4.2 The catering categories of mass catering

Mass catering includes * main categories of catering:

School catering: daycare, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, university; Medical and social catering: hospitals, nursing homes; Corporate catering: administrative and corporate restaurants; Other: vacation centers, military, prisons, etc.

In the following table, we list the different categories of the catering of mass catering, an important part of the catering industry in Italy.

[***]

Direct management: managed by the local authority or institution, it is the institution or local authority that manages the catering, teams, purchasing, and meal preparation. It covers about ** percent of mass catering, especially in schools. Contracted or delegated management to a service provider: the service provider provides the catering, manages the teams and supplies. The service provider can be public or private. Three methods of operation are possible: on-site kitchens, i.e., establishments that produce meals that are consumed exclusively on-site central kitchens, which are establishments in which at least part of the activity consists of producing culinary preparations for delivery to at least one satellite restaurant or social group; satellite restaurants, which are "establishments or premises served by a central kitchen." Satellite restaurants may produce some fractions of meals on site.

4.3 Type of services and average prices

Restaurateurs are aware that demand is relatively dominated by corporations and event organizers. As a result, the offerings are usually relatively high-end, with products that can be adapted to customers' needs (***). The goal is usually to offer foods that are healthy, easy to eat, tasty, and aesthetically pleasing.

A number of trends have also emerged in recent years, including:

Product offerings are gradually shifting toward products in line with consumer expectations (***); The arrival of delivery services in the market could shake up the market: Deliveroo and Uber Eats, as well as several start-ups, are positioning themselves in this market.

Prices charged

Prices for business services are availableafter request for quote. These services include:

Organization of receptions, dinners, fairs Delivery of meals or appetizers in companies

According to the Mondevis Catering website, catering rates depend mainly on the services offered. Here is a summary table of thebudget per capitadepending on the services:

In addition,increased competition in the industry means reduced margins, which is leading market players to lower their prices.

5.1 Regulations

A highly regulated industry

The sector is subject to various regulations at both the national and European levels.

There are regulations applicable to food hygiene and food safety .

The European Union has adopted several pieces of legislation aimed at establishing a single and transparent policy on food hygiene :

Regulation ***/**** establishes the basic principles (***) and defines specific obligations for professionals Regulation ***/**** concerns a preventive approach to food safety risks at the various stages of product manufacture. Regulation ***/**** sets strict standards for food of animal origin. Regulation ****/**** concerns microbiological criteria for food products.

In Italy, food safety is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health. Italian food safety regulations transpose the standards set by the corresponding European regulations.

There are also applicable standards on food labeling . European Regulation No. ****/**** distinguishes between mandatory information for prepackaged food products and mandatory information for non-prepackaged food products.

A regulation that responds to current problems

Law ***/****, also known as the Gadda law, deals with food waste. It aims to reduce waste at every stage of production, processing, distribution, and serving of food, pharmaceutical, and other products by promoting recycling and donation.

6.1 Segmentation of actors

The following is a non-exhaustive list of players in the Italian catering market.

• CIRFood (Cooperativa Italiana di Ristorazione)
• CAMST (Cooperativa Albergo Mensa Spettacolo e Turismo)
• Compass Group Italia