Fast Food outperforms restaurant dining as customer dining behaviour changes.
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Guest - Andrew Fulton, Director at Eighty20
If you are feeling as if your prepared food, grocery, restaurant and food delivery behaviour has changed over the past few years, you are not alone. Research from Eighty20 shows that while restaurants and coffee shops have battled since Covid and are still ~22% below 2019 revenue (at constant prices), the takeaway and fast-food category recovered quickly after covid and is now ~41% above 2019 levels (at constant prices). These two categories accounted for R3.9-billion and R2.8-billion in income respectively for August 2023, according to the latest StatsSA Food and Beverage Statistical Release.
Despite South Africa’s current economic woes, these categories have shown consistent growth over the last 3 years since Covid. However, this growth has stalled for restaurants over recent months, with July and August showing more than a 4% contraction year-on-year (at constant prices). Fast food on the other hand has continued to grow in real terms. The fast-food category was a third of the size of the restaurant category pre-Covid, but now it is more than two-thirds – showing just how much consumers’ purchasing behaviour has changed.
The MAPS data reflects this overall positive movement in these categories, with the number of people who say they haven’t personally bought food from a Fast Food/Casual Dining outlet during the past four weeks dropping from 9% of the adult population to 7.4% from 2022 to 2023
If you are feeling as if your prepared food, grocery, restaurant and food delivery behaviour has changed over the past few years, you are not alone. Research from Eighty20 shows that while restaurants and coffee shops have battled since Covid and are still ~22% below 2019 revenue (at constant prices), the takeaway and fast-food category recovered quickly after covid and is now ~41% above 2019 levels (at constant prices). These two categories accounted for R3.9-billion and R2.8-billion in income respectively for August 2023, according to the latest StatsSA Food and Beverage Statistical Release.
Despite South Africa’s current economic woes, these categories have shown consistent growth over the last 3 years since Covid. However, this growth has stalled for restaurants over recent months, with July and August showing more than a 4% contraction year-on-year (at constant prices). Fast food on the other hand has continued to grow in real terms. The fast-food category was a third of the size of the restaurant category pre-Covid, but now it is more than two-thirds – showing just how much consumers’ purchasing behaviour has changed.
The MAPS data reflects this overall positive movement in these categories, with the number of people who say they haven’t personally bought food from a Fast Food/Casual Dining outlet during the past four weeks dropping from 9% of the adult population to 7.4% from 2022 to 2023
