Food Service Industry on the Upswing in Germany despite Many Crises
Sales at eating places in major German cities have recovered, despite many crises in recent years. In the five metropolitan regions considered, sales at eating places are currently well above pre-Covid pandemic levels, even if adjusted for inflation. This is the result of a new study by the ifo Institute and the Technical University of Munich for the metropolitan areas of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, and Dresden. “There is an upswing in the food service industry after the Covid pandemic, despite the war in Ukraine and high inflation,” says ifo expert Simon Krause, co-author of the study. “The importance of eating places for many people is reflected in the fact that many restaurants in large cities are once again well attended.”
Carla Krolage, co-author of the study, says: “Establishments have been able to pass on some of their increased costs for staff, food, and energy without losing out on guests.” Outside of large cities with high consumption, sales trends in the restaurant industry are more subdued.
“We see a change in consumer behavior after the pandemic. People visit more restaurants and cafés, especially in areas close to home and on weekends,” says Simon Krause. The rise in working from home also leads to a lasting shift in restaurant sales from central business districts to the suburbs and residential areas. This phenomenon is known as the “donut effect” of big cities. Sales also increase on weekends compared to weekdays.
The study looked at anonymized and aggregated card payments at eating places, drawn from the Mastercard Geo-Insights database. This information contains daily spending patterns at points of sale for all postal codes of the five metropolitan regions and was provided to the ifo Institute for the purposes of this project by Mastercard.
Gastronomie im Aufschwung trotz vieler Krisen: Wie sieht das neue Konsumverhalten nach Corona aus
ifo Institut, München, 2023
ifo Schnelldienst, 2023, 76, Nr. 09, 51-56
