Foodservice data from NPD Group’s latest CREST report tells us that retailers should continue to focus on off-premise options such as delivery and drive-through where possible.
By NPD Group Deputy Managing Director Asia Pacific Gimantha Jayasinghe.
Spending in the foodservice sector in Australia declined by five per cent in the third quarter
(Q3) of 2021, driven by a traffic decline of seven per cent versus the same period in 2020, but even though the number of items per consumer was down compared with the previous year, cheques grew by two per cent as consumers were opting for higher- priced items.
Consumers continued to engage with the industry via off-premise ordering, which grew two per cent in traffic, driven by delivery, drive-through and pick-up. However, this was not enough to offset the on-premise decline of 25 per cent.
Foodservice spend and traffic volume held up better than in Australia’s first Covid-19 wave during the second quarter (Q2) of 2020. This was primarily due to the Covid-19 restrictions being essentially limited to two states compared with Q2 2020 when the whole nation was affected by restrictions.
Additionally, restaurants and consumers are much more accustomed to the delivery platform than they were in Q2 2020. In Q3 2021, delivery spend and traffic reached $1.5 billion and 101 million visits, respectively, while in Q2 2020, delivery spend and traffic was $1.1 billion and 77 million visits.
Therefore, this latest quarter analysed in the CREST report saw the highest delivery volumes NPD has observed in the foodservice industry to date.
Read the article in full in the January/February issue of Convenience World.
