According to the report "HoReCa market in Poland 2024" published by PMR Market, it has achieved significant growth compared to 2020, i.e. the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
– It is estimated that the value of the HoReCa market in Poland will increase by 8.4% in 2024. compared to the previous year. Recently, it has been strongly influenced by rising prices, which encouraged Poles to limit their spending. One of the areas in which they were looking for savings was eating out or ordering meals for delivery. Now, declarations about limiting expenses have dropped by 11 percentage points compared to 2023, says Justyna Zagórska, an analyst at PMR Market Experts.
The share of the restaurant segment will decrease
Restaurants, which constitute the largest part of the HoReCa market, will gradually give way to individual catering and hotel catering in the coming years. The observed transformations can be attributed to changing consumer preferences, the convenience of using catering services and the general development of tourism and the growing number of foreign tourists visiting Poland.
Ordering food for delivery is also popular – 60 percent use this form. subjects. Nearly half of Poles, mainly women, indicate the variety of meals prepared at home as the reason for using them. Men, on the other hand, willingly order food in connection with sporting events.
Fast food bars are the most frequently visited
Among restaurants, pizzerias, cafes, alcohol bars and fast food, the latter are the leaders in sales value growth in the difficult year 2023 for the industry. Almost half of the respondents admitted that they decide to eat a meal in a fast food bar two or three times a month or more often . The second choice is pizzerias and the third choice is restaurants. The places most frequently visited by Poles include: McDonald's, KFC and Orlen Stop Cafe. Their services are used more often by men than women and young people aged 18-24.
Generation Z is changing the HoReCa market
PMR Market Experts indicates representatives of Generation Z as an important group of consumers with an increasing influence on the functioning of catering establishments. They prefer American cuisine rather than classic Polish dishes, and exchange coffee for carbonated drinks. People born after 1995 go to fast food bars and pizzerias more often than to restaurants. When choosing a place, the vast majority of them are guided by ratings, for example on Google. The opinions of popular culinary vloggers and influencers are also important to them.
Importantly, "zetki" eagerly reach for food-to-go products that are competitive on the HoReCa market, i.e. hot and cold snacks, such as hot dogs, casseroles, ready-made meals or buns, as well as drinks prepared on-site (coffee, tea, freshly baked squeezed juices). As much as 40 percent representatives of this generation consider them to be nutritious meals that can replace those eaten in a restaurant. As experts emphasize, competition from in-store catering will pose an increasing challenge to the HoReCa industry.
