The data presented at the Aigrim Day. Biasoni: "Very confident for 2024 but the sector needs training".

Aigrim Day 2023 was held today, the event organized by Aigrim, the association founded ten years ago within Fipe-Confcommercio to bring together companies that carry out food and drink administration activities in urban centres, shopping centers , in motorway service areas, in airports, in stations, right in the Confcommercio headquarters in Milan. During the event, data from the first Observatory on Catering in Shopping Centers, created by Deloitte, born from the initiative of Aigrim and Cncc, were presented.

The Observatory aims to analyze, on an ongoing basis, a series of performance indicators for catering in shopping centers and to provide useful elements for defining strategic directives and actions to improve the performance of the sector.

Aigrim Day 2023 was an opportunity to reflect more broadly on the entire sector which, globally, stood at a value of €2,626 billion, in 2022 with an annual growth rate (CAGR) of + 4.5%, and with Italy representing the second country in the European market. Europe and Asian countries specifically are the areas that will grow the most in the period 2022-2027, +2.8% and +6.4% respectively.

A sector, that of catering, which is growing strongly and this is all the more evident if we analyze - as Deloitte did - the data relating to Shopping Centers in which catering shows a growing importance on the overall turnover, representing 6%, with a volume estimated turnover of 4.9 billion euros (by 2022) and an incidence of 9% (in 2022) to 11% in sales in shopping centers at a national level (in the first half of 2023). In Italy, family spending on food consumption outside the home shows an improving trend in the last months of 2023, proving resilient to the external context, unlike other product categories.

Given the impact of foodservice in the overall revenues of shopping centers, the signs reflect on the theme of pedestrianism expressed by commercial areas and on the proportionality and congruity of rental fees. In fact, the first half of 2023 shows a strongly positive trend for the Shopping Center sector, driven by catering (+9.1% vs 2019 and +25.1% vs 2022).

“The data from the Aigrim-Cncc Observatory created by Deloitte confirm once again how the catering sector - included in the extended agri-food and tourism supply chain - is strategic and of fundamental importance for the country, with an impact of the supply chain on the GDP which is stands at around 20%. After the severe difficulties of the pandemic period, the sector returned to the pre-2020 value, re-establishing its growth trajectory (Cagr of +4.5% for 2022 -2027) - commented the president of Aigrim Cristian Biasoni - For the 2024, operators in the sector are confident, the past year has been very positive and I believe 2024 will also be so. However, there is the great theme that we have also placed at the center of this day: that of the human resources that continue to be lacking. In this climate of trust and growth, we need to put people at the centre. Catering work is demanding and often takes place in difficult contexts, but a lot can be done in terms of welfare and companies and training must commit to this. The problem of people in this sector exists and requires the commitment of all interlocutors, including institutions that must support such a strategic sector for the country".

Going into the detail of the data developed by the Observatory also at a geographical level, the catering sector generates an average annual revenue per square meter of €6.3 thousand/m2, with a value in the last twelve months that has recorded double-digit growth compared to 2022 (+20%), mainly driven by the North East (+32%).