Catering Services

Catering Services Global Industry Outlook

The global food service industry was valued at $524.14 billion in 2019, the market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 1-3 percent by 2025

Western European countries, such as the UK, France, and Italy, along with countries, such as the U.S., Singapore, the UAE, and Hong Kong, are the regions that have a high market maturity

Middle Eastern regions, India, China, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Australia, are expected to be potential growth centers for catering services

Economic unrest due to COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the overall growth rate of catering service across the globe

Catering Services Global Market Maturity

• Other than Western Europe and a few other countries, markets for catering services as a standalone specialized function remain underdeveloped
• About 60–70 percent of the total catering outsourcing contracts in these developed markets are a part of IFM contracts
• Healthcare, B&I, and education remained the major end-user segment of food services in 2018. However, suppliers are also concentrating on other lucrative segments, such as education and healthcare

 Catering Services Industry Trends

Demand in the food service industry is mostly driven by large corporate spending. Major buyers are looking to go beyond just catering service offerings to employees and create a dining experience that enhances employee satisfaction and morale through adoption of unique menu and dining options from specialized catering suppliers

Suppliers are also improving their supply capability while adopting performance-based metrics for evaluation and performance monitoring. Increasing expansions of global multinationals in APAC and parts of MEA have triggered an increase in outsourcing of catering services Growing emphasis on adoption of technology to improve the customer experience and reduce time wasted waiting for food.

Global suppliers continue to aggressively increase their footprints in these regions through mergers and acquisitions as well as partnerships with local vendors. For example, having set-up operation in India by acquisition of two of the largest local players, Elior continues to look at expanding its operations in India through acquisitions.

 Catering Services Drivers and Constraints

• In the fastest growing regions, like APAC, developing countries, such as India (currently growing at a CAGR of 15 percent), have a highly fragmented market for catering services and a very high demand from buyers for organized catering
• The absence of major suppliers or their direct operational presence across all locations leads to subcontracting services which is avoided by buyers
• Political and Economic unrest in Europe owing to BREXIT and other factors are expected to slow the growth of the service in Europe
• Absence of major suppliers or their direct operational presence across all locations leads to subcontracting of services. Subcontracting of services usually leads to variation in quality of services performed and makes it difficult to manage multiple suppliers and, hence, is avoided by the buyers as much as possible.

Catering as a Talent Attraction and Retention Tool

• More and more companies, especially high-tech and financial services, are showcasing their fine dining services as an additional employee benefit, rather than just a meal or subsidized amenity to attract and retain talent. For example, Google's lavish free meals program has caused companies that compete for highly skilled employees to follow suit with their own special menus and dining experiences, although most companies still charge employees a subsidized rate for the meals

Demand for Fresh and Healthy Food

• There has been a growing demand for fresh and healthy food among corporate buyers, and food service operators have been focusing on offering healthier meals prepared from fresh ingredients at the location's kitchen and decreasing their reliance on frozen, pre-prepared foods Food Safety Compliance
• Due to recent food safety-related incidents, the FDA has come up with tighter norms and regulations for controlling the quality and standards of food being served. These, along with the global push for food safety, is driving demand for outsourcing catering services

Constraints

Mobile Workforce

• Corporate dining services are negatively affected by increasingly mobile workforces. More and more companies are allowing employees to work from home or other off-site locations, and fewer employees on-site reduces the amount of customers in employee cafés, making it difficult for employee dining services to be self-sustaining .

Awareness Regarding Catering Outsourcing

• There is also a low level of awareness among buyers in developing markets regarding opportunities presented by outsourcing catering services with respect to cost savings, regulatory compliance and operational efficiency

Catering Unmanned Solutions Prevailing in the Market

Automation in Cutlery

•  Automation in cutlery ensures significant savings by cutting down labor
•  Sustainably optimize hygiene through sorting and the hygienic packaging
•  Automated addition of additional items, such as salt, pepper, toothpicks, etc.
•  Exact cutlery counting, detection, and sorting of different types of cutlery
•  Major end users include hospitals, event caterers, university canteens, and inflight caterers

Automation in Food Portioning

•  It consists of multiple modules and the performance parameters of each module are exactly defined for portions according to the requirements
• Bar code detection (e.g., on a company ID card) defines which food is requested and which individual dishes and items of cutlery are required accordingly
• The subsequent process leading to the placement of the food is fully automated
• Each tray is individually charged for each customer

Automation for transport and conveying technology

• Include sophisticated automation products for transport processes in catering facilities and industrial kitchens
• Automates modules upstream and downstream of the cleaning technology
• Covers modules for vertical and horizontal conveying, round belt conveying, trolley lifting devices, as well as lifting and rotating towers
• It ensures that work is not interrupted during the operational procedure
• The process reliability and durability of transport systems lead to cost savings and relieve workers of heavy work tasks