Statistics: How the Italian Style Makes the Difference
Food is an important part of Italian culture and eating out is a part of life not a treat. Because of this lifestyle, there are some key differences between Italy and other Western European countries in terms of consumption habits but also their reaction to the economic crisis. By Matteo Figura, Foodservice Manager – Italy, The NPD Group.
In recent years, we have seen how the financial crisis has fuelled a general contraction of out-of-home food and beverage consumption across Europe. Across Europe, consumers’ initial reaction to the crisis was a greater rationalization of expenditure and a better allocation of their economic resources. But in terms of purchasing behavior and how carefully consumers spend money, we have seen responses differ widely by country. Crest continuously tracks foodservice consumption in major European countries. It highlights the characteristics of the foodservice market in Italy compared to the other four main European foodservice countries: France, Germany, Spain, and the UK. It shows how the Italian lifestyle influences consumer behaviorrelated to the economic crisis and its impact on consumers’ eating habits.
Economic
circumstances Recent macroeconomic data indicates that there is hardly any economic growth in Italy. And while other European countries are on the way out of the crisis, Italy is still experiencing an over proportional economic uncertainty. High unemployment rate, specifically among young people reached 30% in 2011, driving consumer confidence to the lowest level of all of the Big 5 European countries. And those increases we have seen in consumers’ confidence about their future in all other countries did just not happen in Italy.
Consumer trends
It may therefore sound surprising that commercial restaurants in Italy did not suffer the strong declines that you may expect; given these macroeconomic circumstances. Even if the number of visits decreased by -1.2% in 2010 vs 2009, consumers spent more money in the industry than in the previous year, driven by growing eater checks...
