"Catering remains an increasingly important sector for the entire food chain," stresses Tommaso Nastasi, Value creation services leader of Deloitte.

The global catering market reached 2.6 trillion Euro in 2022, aligning with pre-enlargement values. Italy is not looking: it resumes, infartti, the double-digit growth of Italian cuisine in the world, which registers a total value of 228 billion up by 11% compared to 2021. These are the main findings of the 2023 edition of Deloitte’s Foodservice Market Monitor report entitled "Evolutionary Frontiers for the Foodservice Sector", which analyses positioning, size and growth prospects in the sector. 

The Italian catering sector is now the sixth largest market in the world: it marks an increase of 22%, reaching 75 billion. As for catering formats, delivery recorded a sharp increase for the sixth consecutive year: its market share increased from 5% to 19% (2016-2022). 

However, it is the travel segment that shows the highest growth year on year: +43% in 2022 compared to 2021. By extension, Asia Pacific accounts for 41% of the global foodservice market, followed by North America (27%) and Europe (19%). According to estimates, the sector will continue to grow in the coming years, with a rate of +4.5% in the period 2022-2027.

As we have said, the Italian cuisine in the world reaches a value of 228 billion approaching the pre-pandemia level when it was 236 billion: globally, Italian foodservice has a significant penetration of 19%, in the market of traditional full service restaurants, positioning itself mainly as value-for-money. In Italy, traditional restaurants occupy half of the market, making ours the first European country in size in this segment.

"The catering sector is confirmed as an increasingly important sector for the entire food chain -underlines Tommaso Nastasi, Value creation services leader of Deloitte-. Companies in this sector, to continue to grow, will have to innovate their business model by putting consumers and sustainability at the center". 

"A further qualitative leap in foodservice -adds Nastasi- cannot ignore the cohesion between the different actors in the supply chain, through aggregations and partnerships that enhance the territory and its entrepreneurial excellence. To accommodate changing consumer preferences, traders are adapting their value proposition both in terms of product innovation, for example by introducing more vegetarian and plant-based options, and customer experience, through the use of digital tools".