Statistics Explained

Archive:Restaurants, bars and catering statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1

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Data from January 2009. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database

This article belongs to a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the various economic activities in the European Union (EU). According to the statistical classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE Rev 1.1), the present article covers restaurant, bars and catering, corresponding to NACE Groups 55.3, 55.4 and 55.5, which are part of the hotel, restaurant and catering services sector. The activities covered in this article are the sale of meals and beverages for consumption at:

  • restaurants, corresponding to NACE Group 55.3
  • bars, corresponding to NACE Group 55.4
  • canteens and catering, corresponding to NACE Group 55.5

This article covers the sale of food and beverages to final consumers that may be tourists or local customers. Included, for example, are:

  • fast-food stands;
  • take away restaurants;
  • self-service outlets;
  • traditional restaurants;
  • pubs;
  • bars;
  • cafes;
  • catering enterprises which generally operate on a business-to-business basis.

It is important to bear in mind that only enterprises for which the provision of drinks and meals is the principal activity are covered by the statistics presented in this article. Enterprises offering food and drink as a complement to their core business are not included, and in some cases, meals and beverages may represent a significant secondary activity – for example, the sale of food and beverages in cinemas or recreation parks (if these are not operated by separate enterprises).

Table 1: Restaurants, bars and catering (NACE Groups 55.3, 55.4 and 55.5). Structural profile: ranking of top five Member States in terms of value added and persons employed, 2006

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

More than 1.4 million enterprises were active in the restaurants, bars and catering sector (NACE Groups 55.3 to 55.5) in the EU-27 in 2006. The labour-intensive nature of restaurants, bars and catering activities was reflected through the 7.0 million persons employed in the EU-27 in 2006, three quarters of the accommodation and food services (NACE Section H) workforce. However, it should be kept in mind that this figure is based on head-counts of persons employed and does not take into account the seasonal or part-time nature of many positions. The restaurants, bars and catering sector had a particularly low share of paid employees, just 79.6 %, indicating that approximately one fifth of the persons employed in this sector were working proprietors or unpaid family workers.

Restaurants, bars and catering enterprises generated a total of EUR 298.6 billion of turnover in the EU-27 in 2006, resulting in EUR 116.5 billion of value added; these indicators represented around two thirds of the accommodation and food services total. The United Kingdom had by far the largest restaurants, bars and catering sector within the EU-27, both in terms of value added and employment. Unsurprisingly, given its large share of the EU-27 value added total, the United Kingdom was one of the most specialised Member States [1]in these activities. Restaurants, bars and catering generated 2.7 % of the total value added in the United Kingdom's non-financial business economy, the fourth highest share among the Member States, slightly less than in Spain and Portugal, although less than half the share in Cyprus (6.1 %). The least specialised Member State, by quite a large margin, was Slovakia, where just 0.4 % of non-financial business economy value added was generated by restaurants, bars and catering enterprises.

Expenditure and productivity

Gross tangible investment by EU-27 restaurants, bars and catering enterprises amounted to EUR 15.7 billion in 2006, less than half of the total for accommodation and food services. The investment rate in the restaurants, bars and catering sector was 13.5 %, some 4.8 percentage points lower than the non-financial business economy average, and less than half the rate recorded for accommodation services.

The apparent labour productivity and average personnel costs of the EU-27's restaurants, bars and catering sector were both extremely low, explained, to a large extent, by a high degree of part-time work. Apparent labour productivity in the restaurants, bars and catering sector was EUR 16.7 thousand per person employed in 2006, while average personnel costs were EUR 14.1 thousand per employee. When compared with the NACE groups within the non-financial business economy (with data available for 2005 or 2006) there were very few with lower values for these two indicators in 2006, only in some of the textiles, clothing and leather manufacturing activities and in industrial cleaning. The resulting wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the restaurants, bars and catering sector was 118.5 %, considerably below the ratio for accommodation services (146.5 %).

Greece, Italy and Hungary all recorded a wage adjusted labour productivity ratio below parity (100 %) in the restaurants, bars and catering sector in 2006, indicating that average personnel costs were higher than the apparent labour productivity in these Member States [2]. Only in one Member State, Ireland, was the wage adjusted labour productivity ratio higher in the restaurants, bars and catering sector than in the accommodation services sector.

Data sources and availability

The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.

Context

One of the main characteristics of tourism is the high income elasticity of demand, which increases or reduces more easily than for many other products or services. As such, spending on tourism generally decreases proportionally faster than consumers' income during times of economic slowdown. Moreover, political or economic uncertainties tend to lead to a diversion of tourism demand, leading for example to shifts between outbound tourism and domestic tourism, for example when exchange rates change rapidly. Furthermore, a downturn in economic fortunes is also likely to result in reduced business activity; likely to be reflected in fewer business trips and nights spent in hotels, as well as less business lunches and dinners.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

Dedicated section

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and Romania, 2005; Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
  2. ↑ Cyprus and Poland, 2005; Malta, not available.
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