General mood of guests

By: Ipacs Tamás Date: 2022. 11. 14. 10:58

On the first days of the Business Days conference Annamária Földes, director of client development and customer experience at Ipsos, gave a presentation about the general mood in the HoReCa market and consumer feedback, relying on data from domestic and international surveys by Ipsos.

Annamária Földes
director of client development and customer experience
Ipsos

According to one of these titled What Worries the World, 39% of the global population and 52% of Hungarians name inflation as their biggest worry today. In several countries of the world, people are now more afraid of inflation than Covid, and Hungary is the number one on this list. Survey data from July reveal that it is Hungarians who expect a food price increase the most, followed by Sweden and Turkey.

More holidays

This summer 3 form 4 Hungarians went on a holiday, spending minimum 3 guest nights somewhere. In the last 12 months the proportion of holidaymakers grew by 5 percentage points. Compared with 2021, more people went on a holiday in Hungary than abroad. In catering the street food category was the winner, where sales were up 3%. As for consumer preferences, people want value for their money, but the quality of food and service are also important when eating out, together with the size of the portion. Prices went above the psychological threshold of HUF 2,500/person everywhere.

Hospitality in Hungary and abroad

When asked to compare hospitality in Hungary and abroad, guests said things like “everything costs as much in Hungary as abroad, but in other countries they care about guests and service comes with a smile”. Ipsos also compared eating in restaurant with the home delivery of food. They found that ordering from home is flexible, convenient and has a good price-value ratio. Eating out gives guests an experience, quality, diversity and good portions. In Hungary the most frequently used food order services are the following: Foodpanda (Netpincér) (29%), Tesco (19%), Wolt (16%), Kifli.hu (7%) and Spar (7%).

Recommendations

Based on international trends and the survey results, Annamária Földesi also made recommendations to restaurants for offering a better customer experience and increasing sales. These include: starting a home delivery service, being nice to guests and serving bigger portions, using green packaging, adopting digitalisation and self-service, making the restaurant dog-friendly, and creating a unique interior and atmosphere for the restaurant. //

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2022/11