Restaurant & cafe dining continues to rise

The restaurant, café and catering industry has recorded significant growth in turnover according to recent data released by the  Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The ABS Retail Turnover data shows a 10.6 percent growth in restaurant, café and catering service turnover from November 2012 to November 2013.

 Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) CEO John Hart says that this is a very positive result for the industry.

 “Restaurants, cafes and catering services are the star performer of all retail growth, with a 4.6 percent increase in all retail sales between November 2012 and November 2013,” said Mr Hart.

According to the data, November 2013 also finds full service dining at 60 percent of the total cafes, restaurants and take away food categories.

“Interestingly - take-away had been a majority of this category up until 1998–which shows a dramatic shift in the way Australians are dining ,” said Mr Hart.

On a state by state basis, the 10.6 percent overall growth was underwritten by a 15 percent growth in NSW and a stellar 21 percent in Queensland. Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT and NT all recorded an improvement of between 5 and 10 percent compared to 2012.

The overall result was an all-time record of $1.9 Billion in turnover for the restaurant, café and catering sector for the month of November 2013. New South Wales also had a record month, producing $626 Million in sector turnover.

“Despite these record performances and strength returning to consumer sentiment, the fundamentals of restaurant businesses are still in crisis.

“Businesses are closing their doors either for good or on Sundays and/or Public Holidays because of the unsustainably high cost of labour”.

Source:  Restaurant & Catering Australia - January 2014