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Consumer Foodservice in Western Europe:
Examining Drivers of Change in a Maturing Market

by Kathy Chen

An honors thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science Undergraduate College Leonard N. Stern School of Business New York University May 2009

Professor Marti G. Subrahmanyam Faculty Advisor

Professor Susan Douglas Thesis Advisor:Abstract:

In Western Europe today, consumer foodservice is a mature, ageing industry. While there is still demand for traditional cuisines, busier lives and urbanization are driving growth in the fast food chains, casual dining, and takeaway sectors. At the same time, emerging trends suggest that consumers’ desire for authentic food, quick dining, health consciousness, and ethniccuisines. The purpose of this study is to examine the growth in ethnic cuisines based on data in five types of cuisines in the full-service restaurant sector across four Western European countries, in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, in conjunction with background data relating to consumer demographics. The study first examines growth in ethnic food concepts relative to the growth othercuisine types in the four countries. Currently, many studies have identified new areas of growth and new potential concepts. However, few of these studies have isolated how individual factors or variables contribute to this growth. The data collected for each of the three independent variables will also be examined to determine if the data supports the identified trends, or show no relevantcorrelation. Ultimately, the ability to understand the factors which contribute to successful restaurant sales growth will be beneficial to developing new growth strategies and concepts for chains in the future.

 

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Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4  I. Trends inConsumer Foodservice ............................................................................................ 6  (a) Consumer Foodservice Trends in France .............................................................................. 9  (b) Consumer Foodservice Trends in Germany ........................................................................ 12  (c) Consumer Foodservice Trends inItaly ................................................................................ 15  (d) Consumer Foodservice Trends in United Kingdom ............................................................ 18  II. Research Propositions ........................................................................................................... 21  III. Methods and Data................................................................................................................ 22  IV. Discussion of Results ............................................................................................................ 24  (a) Results of Proposition 1 ....................................................................................................... 24  (b) Results of Proposition 1b..................................................................................................... 25  (c) Results of Proposition 2 ....................................................................................................... 27  (d) Results of Proposition 3 ....................................................................................................... 30  V. Conclusion and FutureImplications .................................................................................... 31  VI. Appendices ............................................................................................................................ 34  VII. References ............................................................................................................................ 42 

 

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