Understanding a Key Foodservice Segment in Europe: Catering

By Jochen Pinsker, Director, NPD Foodservice Information Group Europe

Catering, one of the global foodservice market’s buzzwords, commands a strong and growing position among foodservice segments in Europe. In fact, in some countries one in three away-from-home meal occasions in 2004 took place in catering facilities such as a workplace canteen or university cafeteria, which are the key catering locations.

Foodservice marketers believe socio-economic trends and consumers’ lifestyle changes bode well for the long-term health of the catering market – and that means it’s critical for food and beverage manufacturers, retailers, vendors and restaurant operators to understand this vital segment and leverage opportunities to establish or improve their presence within it.

Examining the Catering Market

NPD’s European foodservice industry experts consider “catering” to encompass all food and beverage products purchased and consumed in the workplace or in an educational institution. That includes canteens and cafeterias, vending machines, delivery services, food carts and kiosks.

This represents a sizeable share of the total European foodservice market, accounting for approximately one-third of away-from-home meal occasions in Germany and the U.K. In Spain and France, the other countries in which NPD’s CRESTatwork consumer panels operate, the share percentage is lower, but still impressive: about 12% of away-from-home meal occasions in France and more than 5% of those in Spain happen in catering facilities.

Share of Visits: Catering vs. the Total Away-From Home Market, 2004
Germany	33.3%
United Kingdom	30.1%
France	12.2%
Spain	5.5%
Source: The NPD Group/NPD Foodservice Information Group Europe/CRESTatwork consumer information

Considering NPD estimates only 15% to 20% of the European population have access to and use catering facilities in the workplace or educational settings, it is clear that consumers who purchase foods and beverages from catering facilities do so frequently. The average catering user visits a catering facility more than 160 times per year in Germany and the U.K.; the average consumer in France visits a caterer 122 times per year.

In Spain, widespread availability of points of sale for food and beverage products helps explain why catering is not quite as strong as in some other European nations – with a low 140 inhabitants per point of sale, Spain’s bar-restaurants are abundant and convenient. Related to this, employers in Spain have a propensity to provide “meal tickets” as an employee benefit, which also saves the employers the cost of maintaining on-site dining facilities. And finally, Spain’s economy historically has been more service-oriented than industry-oriented, which means the presence of canteens in major companies such as factories is not as significant in Spain as in more industrial nations such as Germany, U.K. and France. All of these factors contribute to Spain’s relatively low catering average visit rate of 66 visits per catering-using consumer, per year.

Population vs. Workplace Catering Users by Country, 2004
Country	Population (millions)	Catering users (millions per year)	% of population	Visit Frequency per User, per Year
Germany	75.2	13.9	18%	160
UK	60.0	12.1	20%	160
France	59.8	8.8	15%	122
Spain	40.8	6.2	15%	66
Source: The NPD Group/NPD Foodservice Information Group Europe/CRESTatwork consumer information

Opportunities for Independents in the Catering Market

A major share of the European catering market is independently driven – NPD information reveals a quarter of all catering revenues in Germany and about one-third of those in the U.K. are captured by contract caterers in workplaces; the rest of the market is owned by independent vendors. Catering is an important and growing market across Europe, and one that could be lucrative for foodservice marketers who understand how best to exploit it.

For more information about CRESTatwork or other NPD foodservice information offerings in Europe, please contact Jochen Pinsker at +49 911 395 2443 or jochen_pinsker@npd.com.