News

Q1 Foodservice visits on the rise

July 11, 2016

Most of the global foodservice markets, including The Big Five European Countries, Australia, Canada, China, and Japan, ended the first quarter of 2016 with an increase in store visits and consumer spending, according to The NPD Group report.

Traffic gains were reported in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, and Spain, while France, Italy, and the United States reported flat traffic rates. Germany's overall traffic increased by 1 percent, with a 3-percent increase in the average eater check, leading to spending growth of 4 percent.

“Positive reports from the global foodservice industry first emerged in the second quarter of 2015, but after years of uneven growth around the world, it was hard to get too excited about it at the time. The news did get better throughout 2015, and culminated in this quarter’s broadly upbeat global performance,” says Bob O'Brien, senior vice president, global foodservice at The NPD Group.

Quick service restaurant traffic was the lead contributor to the visit increase in every global market excluding Japan. Japan saw growth in the retail foodservice category, and the European markets saw a rise in full-service restaurant visits. 

Unfortunately, Russia was the only exception and experienced a 2-percent decline in foodservice visits for the first quarter, according to the report.