COVID-19 has caused a paradigm shift for both operators and consumers in the Out-of-Home meal market.
In 2020, the Out-of-Home (OOH) meal market shrunk to 1/3 of its 2019 value. Despite this now being in recovery, by Q2 of this year the market was still only 75% of the value it was in 2019.
But it’s not just value that’s changed. The OOH channel composition has also had a significant shake up. On-premise, which accounted for 70% of OOH spend in 2019, shrank to 20% in 2020. Even in 2021, it still only represents 45% of total spend, while Take Away and Meal Delivery combined has risen from 16% in 2019 to 40% in 2021.
The shrinkage of the Foodservice industry would’ve been even more substantial if it wasn’t for the growth of Take Away and Meal Delivery. These channels have helped keep the frequency of how often we use the Foodservice industry to levels relatively to pre-pandemic.
Usage still varies significantly across the world - from once every few days in Asia (every three to five days in Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and Chinese Mainland), right up to once every 10 or 11 days in France, Spain, Mexico and the UK.
On-premise accounted for just 30% of occasions (i.e. how we consume OOH, including Meal Delivery, On the Go, Take Away and On-premise) in the last 12 months, with the only exception being in Spain where On-premise is still significant due to the importance of independent bars and restaurants.
When we look at Meal Delivery specifically, we see that penetration has increased across all markets – with the exception of South Korea where penetration was already at 99%. Despite Europe still having lower penetration than Asia and Latin America, France, Portugal and the UK all saw a gain of 10 points or more.
Young shoppers are particularly keen on Meal Delivery, with 70% penetration among under 24s. But the biggest growth in Europe came from older consumers (over 50s), where penetration rose from 28% to 40%.
Frequency of use has also increased, with the proportion of heavy buyers (people who use Meal Delivery once a week or more) increasing across all markets. Consumers today use Meal Delivery over 30% more compared to the same period a year ago.
It’s clear that the structure of the Foodservice industry has changed. The good news is that it’s in recovery. And while we’re still yet to reach the levels of 2019 in terms of value, we have the continued growth of Meal Delivery and Take Away to thank for stopping the industry from having declined even further.
In the chapters that follow, we’ll look at:
