Leisure venue caterers urged to focus on value

Leisure venue caterers are set for a tough 2009 and will need to focus on offering value as consumers rein in their spending, market analyst Mintel has warned.

The leisure sector, which covers theme parks, nightclubs, bingo halls, historic buildings, nightclubs and ten pin bowling, is dominated by Compass Group and Sodexo.

A new report from Mintel, released exclusively to Caterersearch, shows that the sector has enjoyed five years of solid growth from 2003, with catering revenues up 15% to £2.2b in 2007 (£2.39b at 2003’s catering prices).

However, despite this momentum, catering at leisure venues – even when the distorting influence of the nightclub sector’s alcohol sales are put to one side – has not kept pace with the growth of the host sites.

Mintel warned that this was due to a continuing perception amongst the public that catering at leisure venues was expensive, with long queues and poor food on offer.

The report also highlights that sector growth appeared to slow last year, with 2008’s expenditure estimated to be slightly down on 2007’s at £2.19b.

Worse, although 2009 looks good at first glance, with forecast expenditure of £2.2b, once pegged back at 2003’s catering prices it is just £2.17b, the lowest for six years.

Helena Spicer, senior leisure analyst at Mintel, said: “Leisure venues that tend to draw their customers primarily from less affluent blue-collar and unskilled workers, and those that have a heavy reliance on the families market, look set to see a fall in both visitors and catering spend.”

However, Spicer added that sectors that attract the bulk of their guests from older age groups, such as museums and art galleries, were likely to fair better.

Compass signs £125m deal at Coventry City FC’s Ricoh Arena >>

Crown Group wins a £50m deal for 75 leisure centres >>

Sodexo signs up to Olympic fair pricing and practice charter >>

Hospitality gets up and running for the Olympics >>

Contract caterers serve record number of meals in 2008 >>

By Chris Druce

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