Culinary Store Experience

It's all about a new generation of in-store restaurants. Generally aimed at attracting customers and making their stay as long as possible, this service was long considered to be too personnel intensive and characterised by fluctuating quality and negative results. Standardisation and, in many cases, the self-service principle have put the genre on track for success. Today, major department and furniture stores, as well as book and shoe shops, use their own or outside foodservice brands as a supplementary attraction offering additional value. Not to mention supermarkets for which associated F&B units represent a marketing and testing module for their product ranges. Part 1 of our pan-European survey.

[39896 Zeichen]

Food Sales Mix

€ 5,75

Indicators of F&B Expertise

In most European countries, it is still the exception rather than the rule for hotel chains to create their own restaurant brands and multiply them via their own hotels. Partnerships between hotels and external F&B brands are also rare on the continent and that despite the fact that they boost hotels' image and positioning. Our pan-European survey portrays hotel chains - from good and reasonably priced to elegant and expensive - with restaurant brands that underscore the qualities of the hotel and, in addition to hotel guests, attract outside guests, especially locals.

East Meets North

With a Danish father and a Japanese mother, former media executive Kim Rahbek Hansen has brought unique cross-cultural insights to the role of CEO at Sticks 'N' Sushi, which he co-founded in Copenhagen in 1994. Now one of Scandinavia's largest casual dining brands, the chain profitably combines eat-in, takeaway and retail. Rahbek Hansen has encouraged a fresh approach, not just to menus and the re-engineering of kitchen layouts but in staff motivation, interior design and sustainability initiatives. Interview by Bruce Whitehall.

Norway: Leader in Scandinavia

Scandinavians eat lots of pizza. Consumption per capita is probably one of the highest in Europe. But, except for Norway, pizza is declining in the foodservice markets. Consumer patterns also differ greatly from country to country, as do market structures. By Jan Börjesson.

[14467 Zeichen]

Scandinavia: Pizza Chains*

€ 5,75

Only a few US Chains

In Europe, pure steakhouse chains emerged in UK in the 50s, in France in the late 60s and in Scandinavia and Germany in the 70s. However, it was not until the late 80s that they reached Portugal, Spain and Italy, where chain operations still are in their early stage. Located centrally or as freestanders, often with farmhouse design or (modern) Argentine style, they all offer tableservice and are focused on grilled meat (up to 50% of sales). Average checks are about EUR 15-30 and sales go up to EUR 2-3 m/unit. After 2000, BSE and foot-and-mouth disease created great consumer uncertainty and many steakhouses expanded their menus to include fish, chicken and vegetarian alternatives. The demand for meat has been rising again since it has been possible to give consumers assurances about its origins. This has encouraged some chains to expand internationally - and not just within Europe. Interesting in this connection is the fact that US concepts hardly ever succeeded in Europe.

[42174 Zeichen]

UK: Top Steakhouses

UK: Pub Chains with Steaks

UK Steak Sales - beef frying/grilling steak -

€ 5,75

Shopping Centres with... ...Railway Connections

Most of Europe's biggest railway stations are well over 100 years old. Their architecture is cultural history. And inside? The nineties were a decade of modernisation. The railway operators saw that these highly frequented places were also ideal for shopping and foodservice. The result: shopping centres, especially for quickservice brands, with bakery-snack concepts of all kinds topping the popularity poll.

[39244 Zeichen]

Areas Group - at railway stations (total)

Spain: Local Services - millions of travellers

Termini, Rome: F&B Outlets

€ 5,75

Rating:

Future-compatible

How to create foodservice concepts today that will still capture the spirit of the times tomorrow and satisfy future consumer needs and tastes? This is a key question at innumerable symposiums, congresses and market-research projects. One approach is to collect basic facts, study the parameters and evaluate trends. The other, to add intuition and inspiration. The best source of innovative impartiality: travelling, keeping your eyes open and learning. Hence our 'virtual' sightseeing tour of Europe to discover future-oriented ideas for concepts of supra-regional interest. Although the selection is subjective, the perspective is always professional. Country-by-country, we present 25 concepts - some individual, some already multiplied. The spectrum ranges from restaurants for kids to wine bars; from fast-food to a new interpretation of fine dining.

Macchiato's Mainland

Over the last three to five years no other subject has generated so much hope of growth in the away-from-home market as coffeebars. In many countries, coffeebars are one of the hottest segments. Starbucks, the US brand, is seen as the archetype. The bars represent a big new chance for multi-concept restaurant companies, young entrepreneurs and, of course, the roasters and the coffee-machine manufacturers. All efforts are aimed at the young generation, more and more of whom prefer to go without coffee unless it goes hand-in-hand with the appropriate lifestyle setting. The (European) coffeebar strongholds are London and Barcelona. Everybody is watching what the people from Seattle do in UK and Switzerland, their start in Zurich in March this year was very successful.

[33102 Zeichen]

Top 10 UK Coffeebar Chains

Spain: Top Coffeebars 2000

Germany: Top 10

€ 5,75

Meat-free and Healthy

Everywhere you look, sales of vegetarian meals are rocketing and not just since the BSE and foot-and-mouth crisis either. Vegetarianism has become nothing short of a mega trend amongst young female customers, who are deciding in droves to live on a meat-free diet. We analyse the concepts behind vegetarian restaurants and their evolution as well as the current status of vegetarian meals in 'normal' restaurants.

Microcosm Airport

Only 10 years ago the foodservice available at airports was pretty miserable but now airport sites get extremely high ratings from retail and restaurant professionals alike. People frequencies compare favourably with those of high-street locations. Among the highest revenue-earners are quickservice concepts, which are increasingly being grouped together in food courts. A pan-European overview.

[40821 Zeichen]

London F&B

SSP Europe

Brands at UK airports

€ 5,75