Not so fast: diners ditching take-away
It's taken a GFC and the end of a mining boom, but tough times are finally biting down on Australia's enthusiasm for eating out.
Fast food was one of the survivors of the GFC: as times got tougher, people didn't stop eating out but instead just shifted to cheaper restaurants.
Now research by BIS Shrapnel has found people are scaling back on their favourite fast food treats.
BIS Shrapnel has found that almost three quarters of customers cut their number of visits to fast food stores in the first half of 2013 and 39 per cent of those surveyed said they would further decrease visits in the next six months.
Only 13 percent of respondents planned to go more often.
BIS Shrapnel foodservice senior project manager Tim Emmerson said cost and the need to save money were the most common reasons people gave for cutting back.
"From 2008 the market has done really well," Mr Emmerson said of the Australian fast food industry, which is dominated by McDonald's, KFC, Subway, Hungry Jack's and Domino's Pizza.
"We didn't stop eating out, we just traded down.
"Now what's happened in Australia is we are reducing the number of times that we are going out."
The latest survey of the market has shown that the decline that hit high-end and mid-tier restaurants after the GFC has finally hit fast food.
Head of foodservice at BIS Shrapnel, Sissel Rosengren, said spending had slowed, with Australians devoting 33.5 cents in the dollar on eating out now, compared with more than 38 cents before 2008.
"During the last five years, the big winners in the food service market have been the fast food chains, the clubs and the lower end of the restaurant market," Ms Rosengren said.
"We see it tailing off now."
Another driver of the switch in consumer behaviour is health, with concerns about weight loss and healthy eating emerging for the first time, albeit as a minor factor.
Australia's fast food and snack food market - known as the "quick service restaurant" or QSR channel - has grown steadily since 2008.
BIS Shrapnel values the QSR market at $15 billion, with 2.2 billion servings of food and 900 million beverages served each year.
In case you were wondering, hot chips are the favourite food, while coffee tops beverage orders, and QSR does not include cafes.
Australia's market has changed, too, with the number of chain stores outnumbering independent take-away outlets for the first time, 8877 to 8734.
The growth outlook is now flat for independent outlets and a slim 0.5 per cent for chains.
Mr Emmerson said the survey results were evidence that consumers were worried, however fast food and snack food would be the first to benefit from any economic improvement.
He also offered some hope to the high-end restaurant market.
"If things go really well over the next 18 months, then we start trading upwards," he said
Source: AAP, 3 September 2013
