SPOTLIGHT ON CASUAL DINING
CASUAL ENCOUNTERS With growth predicted for the casual dining sector, five franchises discuss future changes and challenges. By Sarah Stowe
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espite the setbacks of the last 12 months for the hospitality industry, the next 12 to 24 months are looking up, with exciting innovations and digital-driven changes for many franchises. Casual dining’s advantage is that it sits between fine dining and takeaway/delivery. That’s also the challenge. As Aussies hunkered down last year to weather the Covid storm, takeaway and delivery kept the hospitality sector alive. Innovation, adaptability and swift implementation were the bywords for surviving 2020 and continue to be drivers for the sector. More than a year on from the first lockdown now and we’ve strolled back to cafes and restaurants, although not in the numbers previously seen. So what is the future for casual dining? According to analyst firm IBISWorld, the restaurant sector is set to grow, picking itself up from the falling revenues suffered by many last year.
A March 2021 survey, which we reported on in the last issue of Inside Franchise Business, confirmed that sit-down restaurants and cafes were among the sectors hardest hit, with cafes forming the majority of the business closures in the first calendar 2021 quarter. The good news is that cafes and restaurants are among the most optimistic businesses when it comes to future trading, according to the Australian Franchise Pulse Check March 2021 survey conducted by FRANData. As government restrictions ease and discretionary income recovers from the impacts of Covid, IBISWorld predicts the restaurant industry can expect an annualised 2.1 per cent rise through to 2026, to lift the sector’s value from $18 billion to $20.6 billion. The revenue rise is good news as operating costs remain a challenge for cafe and restaurant owners. The casual dining space is an open market, and there is no one chain claiming more than 5 per cent of Australia's dining out business.
AUG/OCT 2021 | 40 | WWW.FRANCHISEBUSINESS.COM.AU
