Magazine: Young consumers shape the future of Hungarian hospitality

Where do we eat and how much do we spend?

The 840-respondent survey – which was done in September – found that confectioneries were the most popular after the pandemic, followed by restaurants. Consumers older than 35 years are the biggest confectionery-goers. Young people go to all kinds of hospitality units more often than any other age group, and they are also an important group if spending per occasion is considered.

It is hardly surprising that we spend the most money in classic restaurants: in 90 percent of cases more than HUF 2,500 percent per person, with young consumers (especially those below the age of 26 years) being likely to leave an even bigger sum there. The research also revealed that we tend to spend more than this sum when we order food from our homes.

How do we choose?

Choosing a place to eat is a complex process. In Hungary the main decision-making factor is price, followed by food quality and taste. The size of the portion served is just of average importance. Young people and Budapest dwellers are more likely to order special-diet food: in the 18-26 year age group 10 percent don’t eat lactose, 4 percent avoid gluten and 4 percent are vegan. This behaviour has less to do with some kind of food intolerance than with dietary trends. Even more so because the study found that the majority of allergic people prefer cooking at home – in the long run this can result in a sharp increase for special and free-from cooking ingredients.

Ordering from home as an alternative

This summer 49 percent of consumers ordered food from their homes at least once. For young people it feels completely normal to do this – they don’t see it as something trendy; on the contrary, for them eating in a restaurant is more fashionable and 59 percent of them say it offers better value for money than ordering. 90 percent of consumers younger than 26 years order food regularly, two thirds from Netpincér and one third from Wolt. These two services are very popular all over Hungary, to the extent that the number of Bolt Food customers is way below that of these two even in the capital city.

Beyond Lake Balaton

Ipsos found that 3 from 4 Hungarians went on a holiday for minimum 3 days this summer. Lake Balaton is still one of the most popular destinations and guests were rather satisfied with hospitality services there, giving it a 4.0 rating on a scale of 1 to 5. However, it also seems that there are more and more alternative destinations – not everything is about Lake Balaton anymore.

Nine from 20 respondents said they would go to bars and restaurants just as often in the autumn as they had done in the summer. The 45-53 year age group is the most optimistic, as every tenth of them said they would visit these places more often than in the summer. //