The collective catering market - Spain

1.1 Introduction

According to Contract Catering Enacatering is part of the out-of-home catering sector, which also includes commercial catering activities (restaurants, cafeterias, snack bars). Collective catering, however, has a social character , aiming to provide a meal for a specific group (students, hospital patients or employees).

Collective catering is thus aimed at a diverse range of customers, such as school and university complexes, hospitals and retirement homes, or company employees. These types of customers can be segmented into 4 main catering groups:

• School catering : nursery schools, kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, high schools and universities
• Medical-social catering: hospitals, rehabilitation centers and retirement homes
• Company cater ing: administrative and company restaurants
• Other types of catering for vacation centers, the army or prisons, as well as rail and air traffic

Globally, the foodservice market is growing fast, with forecasts of over 5% a year between 2018 and 2023 before the Covid-19 crisis. the market is dominated by global players such as France's Sodexo and Elior, America's Aramark and the UK's Compass.

Collective catering players are seeking to highlight the quality of their meals, to counter the sometimes somewhat "downmarket" image of the offer in collective canteens. By focusing on an organic, responsible and local offering, players are trying to win over more and more customers and consumers at a time when there are so many choices for lunch - particularly in corporate catering.

The Covid-19 crisis has had a major impact on the sector, and is likely to have a lasting negative impact - with the rise of telecommuting in particular - accelerating the transformation of the foodservice business model .