Written by Tamás Ipacs (Monday), László Szalai (Tuesday), Eszter Barok (Wednesdays)

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/11

Zsuzsanna Hermann, CEO and editor-in-chief of Trade magazin and rector of the FMCG Open University pointed out in her opening speech: in the last 4 years companies have found many solutions to stay on their feet, to move forward and to organise things for the period ahead.

 

Monday is traditionally devoted to the HoReCa sector at the conference. László Kovács, president of the Guild of Hungarian Restaurateurs (MVI) gave a presentation, in which he underlined that the industry can slowly surpass 2019, when the hospitality sector had the highest number of businesses and the most employees – from 52,000 businesses at that time, 6,500 have closed by now. The hospitality sector now performs at the same level as back then, but with 10,000 fewer employees.

 

 

 

Fewer confectionery shops

László Selmeczi, co-president of the Hungarian Confectioners’ Craft Union (MCI) underlined in his presentation: apart from interest representation, the main objectives of MCI are training and serving as a knowledge hub, making progress in artisan confectionery and organising workshops. Even if confectioners have been less affected by the crisis than the hospitality industry in general, sales revenues in the sector are declining – just like the number of confectioneries.

Anna Zoltai, president of the National Association of Public Sector Catering Service Providers (KÖZSZÖV) told that the organisation currently has 450 members, and their main tasks are acquiring and sharing knowledge, information transfer, and the promotion of new methods and lobbying. Mass catering is the form of catering that has the lowest carbon footprint. Priority issues include sustainability and waste reduction, but they also find it important to fight over-regulation.

 

 

 

Audits and experiences

Dr Imre Nemes, president of the National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih) talked about the recent past, the present and the future of mass catering from a food safety perspective. Changes brought about by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic have also entailed a renewal of the catering industry. In response to this, there is growing emphasis on online sales in Nébih inspections.

Food policy analyst Réka Szöllősi gave an insight into the new challenges food service businesses need to face, such as the legal, market and social expectations regarding environmental sustainability. Cooking ingredients used in catering will also be affected by the consumer need for more sustainable eating, with a growing demand for using more traditional plant and alternative proteins. Software solutions can help to prevent waste generation and food waste in kitchens, and to plan more sustainable menus.

 

 

Too few quality guests

In the afternoon the programme began with a presentation by Ákos Bősze, HoReCa business development executive of METRO, who shared the results of a METRO survey done with 1,000 respondents. 

 

The first roundtable of the day brought together restaurant owners and their suppliers for a discussion.

Domestic consumption is low at 70% of the EU average, said Dr Richárd Andrejszki, CEO and owner of Chef Market. Although household savings have grown by 60% in 4 years, consumer confidence is low and consumption isn’t expected to pick up until the second quarter of 2025.

The industry is lacking quality tourists and those with smaller purchasing power are spending less. 

 

Ákos Bősze said the next year will be good for those restaurateurs who adapt their offering, services and their whole business model to the actual demand. 

 

 

 

 

István Bruzsa, sales manager of Nestlé Professional expressed his view that there is growing demand for meat-free food and healthy eating.

As behind price, the second biggest problem for restaurateurs is the workforce shortage, the company is introducing products that are preservative-free, easy and quick to prepare, and offer stable good quality.

 

 

 

 

 

Restaurant owners should develop, instead of just waiting for an upturn

Károly Gerendai, owner of the Costes group in Budapest sees different types of labour problems in fine dining than in other areas of hospitality. The company employs foreigners because they want to work a lot and aren’t careerists, while their young Hungarian employees would like to get into senior positions as quickly as possible, with as little effort as possible. There are too many restaurants at the moment and most of them aren’t engaged in development and marketing, instead they are just waiting for an upturn. 

Rudolf Semsei, the owner of VakVarjú restaurants, Budapest Party Service, and Semsei Gastronomy (the new umbrella brand for Dobay confectioneries) believes that a manager must first and foremost be familiar with the target group of their service. Going to a restaurant is still a luxury for many people, who are really careful about how much they spend. Despite rising prices, the Semsei Group is still delivering the experience and quality that guests are used to, at the cost of sacrificing some of the profit.

 

 

 

 

 

A name alone isn’t enough in fine dining

In the second panel discussion well-known figures of Hungarian restaurant gastronomy shared their experiences, successes and visions for the future.

István Pesti, co-owner of Platán Gourmet restaurant in Tata said they aren’t more expensive than similar restaurants in Europe, and they try to achieve the right price-quality ratio in all of their units. They have turned Platán into a brand with really hard work.

 

According to Róbert Rosenstein, chef and owner of Rosenstein Restaurant in Budapest: even with a name, a good reputation it isn’t enough just to wait for customers – every 3-6 months a place has to offer something special, something entertaining. They use these elements to build their brand.

 

 

 

Roy Zsidai, CEO of Zsidai Group and president of the Hungarian Restaurant Association called attention to the fact that the average price increase in the European hospitality industry was 40% if calculated in euro, and Hungarian restaurants haven’t become more expensive compared to Western Europe. New technological processes and trends are constantly emerging, from sous vide to molecular gastronomy and veganism, but these are integrated into everyday work and habits.

 

 

 

 

Back from the USA

Roland moved to New York with his family in 2009 and Trade magazin followed his first two years of integration in a series of articles. The chef spoke very frankly about his feelings and experiences.

He is now taking out a big loan to open his own restaurant with his partner in New Haven, Connecticut. He believes in the importance of building a group of regular customers.

After the last “bell” of the day a METRO cocktail party followed until dinner, when the diverse evening programme began.  

 

 

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From Tuesday the students of the Open University had the chance to dive into the science of retail trade.

With Emília Krug as the moderator, the programme began with Tibor Bodor, head of corporate division at K&H Group analysing the latest results of the K&H corporate growth index.

The retail sector is slightly more pessimistic than the index average.

 

Dr Ákos Kozák, co-founder of Equilibrium Institute shared his views on the economy. He called attention to the good performance of China and the troubles of the German economy – the latter is also “infecting” Hungary.

GDP is 10% below pre-crisis levels and in the first quarter of 2024 we saw a further decline. 

 

 

Tamás Éder, president of the Federation of Responsible Food Manufacturers (FÉSZ), painted a not so rosy picture of the current situation in the food industry. Last year the sector’s performance worsened by 12.1%, which is unprecedented. Operating profit reduced from HUF 500bn in 2022 to HUF 100bn. In his view it isn’t surprising at all that Hungarian food products are expensive.

 

 

 

 

 

Growth is difficult to achieve

The three participants of the first roundtable were suppliers and they mainly discussed prices.

Zoltán Balog, general manager of Márka Üdítő said that they would have to sell three times as much as they did before June 2022 to reach the profitability level of that period. They feel that if the government introduces new burdens, it will lead to an increase in food inflation and a further drop in consumption. The DRS system also generates additional costs for retail trade.

 

Gergely Bálint, director of corporate sales at Nestlé stressed that their main objective in 2024 is to stop the negative consumer volume trend that began in 2023, which required price cuts in several product categories.

However, this creates profitability issues on the supplier side. There is a situation where food prices are high, but there aren’t enough resources in the value chain to stimulate further consumption, so it is very difficult to grow.

 

2024 is also about hard work, said Roland Domoszlai, HoReCa director of HELL Energy. As private labels are getting stronger, manufacturers are no longer competing only with each other, but also with the various discounter chains. Manufacturers need to dig deep when they work, making a lot of improvement both in the portfolio and in implementation.

 

 

 

Opportunities beyond the border

The morning programme ended with two presentations.

Dr Bernadett Petri, ministerial commissioner of the Ministry of Public Administration and Regional Development and managing director of the Hungarian Development Promotion Office (MFOI) gave a presentation on directly accessible EU funds. At the moment these funds only account for one third of the EU budget, but the system is undergoing a change: more and more money is becoming available. Currently Hungary can only bring in EUR 13 per capita, while the EU average is EUR 59.

 

Gergely Giczi, deputy CEO of the Agricultural Marketing Centre began his presentation by saying: we are at the start of a development boom, after which new domestic and foreign market opportunities will open up in the next 5 years.

Hungary’s food economy accounts for 30-40% of the total trade surplus of the country. The share of highly processed products in our export is improving: it is 42% at the moment, but the government wants to increase this.

Before lunch, the awards ceremony for the Retail Award of Excellence for Hungarian Products took place.

 

 

Up there and down here

After lunch the first roundtable discussion was devoted to government decisions affecting the everyday life of retail trade, with the participation of Dr Olga Felkai Beáta, deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Katalin Neubauer, secretary general of the Hungarian National Trade Association (MNKSZ), Dr Tamás Kozák, secretary general of the National Trade Association (OKSZ) and Dr Imre Nemes, president of the National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih).

Dr Beáta Olga Felkai told: they have always worked together with retail trade, because things won’t work any other way. There is no use in subsidies or in development projects if the supported companies can’t sell their products. From 1 August consumer protection also belongs to the Ministry for National Economy.

 

As regards the concentration of consumer protection Dr Imre Nemes revealed: negotiations are underway between the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry for National Economy and Nébih to set up a new retail trade office.

 

 

 

Dr Tamás Kozák opined that interesting narratives have emerged recently, with profit becoming sort of a negative word. He mentioned “profit-driven inflation” as perhaps a new economic phenomenon, the impact of which may have to be taken into account when preparing economic decisions.

 

Katalin Neubauer admitted that the price monitoring system was a good initiative, because consumer prices were increasing rapidly. Mandatory promotions also helped to bring prices down.

 

 

 

 

 

Encouraging signs from distributors

The participants of the next roundtable were Zoltán Becze, general manager of Orbico, Csaba Kanizsai-Tóth, managing director of FÁN Group, Dr Beáta Kápolna, offer management director of METRO, Péter Szemes, managing director of Maresi Foodbroker and Tamás Tőkey, CEO of MIRBEST, who reviewed the developments in the sector from the perspective of wholesalers and distributors.

According to Zoltán Becze, last year was a good one for Orbico: they invested in prices and this resulted in growth in several – otherwise shrinking – categories, e.g. coffee, crisps, mineral water.

 

 

Csaba Kanizsai-Tóth’s observation is that consumption habits have changed a lot in the countryside. Demand in traditional retail outlets has moved towards cheaper products; for 2025 he expects a 5-10% growth. 2023 wasn’t an easy year for METRO either, but the second quarter of 2024 already showed positive results.

 

 

Dr Beáta Kápolna told that the volume decline of the HoReCa sector is slowing down and the market is recovering, even if it isn’t functioning exactly as before. METRO sees a growing demand for private labels. In the new financial, year starting on 1 October, METRO will introduce a delivery service for independent retailers.

 

 

Figures for the last 3 months were already very encouraging at MIRBEST, reported Tamás Tőkey. In the next period the company is going to concentrate on digitalisation and database management. They are also trying to diversify their private label portfolio.

 

 

 

Péter Szemes informed that they added new brands to the Maresi Foodbroker portfolio and they distribute 30 brands now. For them convenience categories are growing the fastest, while impulse products produced the biggest decline.

 

 

During the discussion Ferenc B. Tóth, chief business development officer of IQOM gave a presentation about their payment solutions for wholesalers.

 

 

 

 

Chain, chain, value chain

Panellists analysed the FMCG situation from the sourcing side in the following roundtable discussion.

László Varga, product director of Auchan pointed out that the challenges of recent years have acted as a catalyst in the relationship between manufacturers and retailers. Sharing information helps suppliers to better understand their customers. Unpredictability and high tax burdens are a serious risk in the value chain.

 

Tamás Kámán, product director of Tesco underlined that shoppers always want to find the best value for money. Consumers have recently decided in the shops which products they want to buy and at what price level. At Tesco promotional sales increased by a third. Big suppliers tend to have a better overview of the market and react faster than small ones.

 

 

 

This is why SPAR has created a special team to educate small suppliers on the optimal price point to which their product should be “brought down”, in order to generate higher volume sales and remain in the portfolio, explained SPAR’s head of purchasing Krisztina Várkonyi.

 

One of CBA’s main expectations from its suppliers is that their product should be worth selling for the chain, said Zoltán Noszlopy, deputy CEO and purchasing director of CBA. When the market dictates that they have to lower the price, CBA does it, but if the product doesn’t have the expected margin, they have no choice but to substitute it.

 

 

Géza Vincze, director of purchasing at Penny stressed that when cooperating, no effort should be spared to ensure that the parties understand each other’s needs. Communication is particularly important when a special situation arises. Penny is currently developing a strategy on the basis of such discussions.

 

 

 

 

 

Variations on saving

Why aren’t Hungarians buying? This is the question that Gergő Soltész, investment and financial expert answered in his presentation: because we prefer to save. Since 2020 retail consumption hasn’t exceeded household consumption. The household consumption rate is low relative to our level of development, primarily owing to the high savings rate, low overall consumer confidence and rising housing prices.

Andreas Christou, managing director of RetailZoom, gave a status report on domestic retail chains, stating that 90% of the sales increase in 2023 was generated by inflation. Shoppers have reacted to inflation by reducing basket sizes (first they stopped buying impulse and convenience products) and by switching to cheaper products. Meanwhile, the number of transactions increased.

 

 

 

 

(Limited) room for manoeuvre

On Tuesday the last roundtable session was attended by representatives of Hungarian retail chains.

Zsolt Gyelán, vice president of CBA said that they see growth first and foremost in drug product sales. This is because drugstores have brought prices down and suppliers are forced to offer better prices to domestic chains if they want to sell in this channel too.

 

 

Tibor Fekete, board member of CO-OP Hungary and president-CEO of Coop Szolnok was a bit more optimistic. He pointed out that elections are coming soon, which could be good for the FMCG sector.

 

 

 

A big bounce back is not expected, but slow growth can occur. Lívia Jeszenszki, managing director of Reál expressed the view that a large proportion of their customers are low-income. There is also a kind of consciousness among those with higher incomes – they don’t necessarily want to spend their money on food. Reál sees the conquest of promotions and manufacturers have limited space for manoeuvre in this situation.

 

According to Tamás Jósvai, managing director of Tom Market, discounters have “rewired” the way shoppers think about products over the past 5-10 years. Tom Market stores form a niche type of convenience network, they don’t wish to compete with discounters and this is reflected in their pricing too. They are offering complementary services, products and value propositions.

 

 

The day ended with two presentations: Ákos Kontár, chief operating officer of Checksum spoke about their digital, data-driven services that facilitate the work of sales reps, while Gyula Gallina, business development director of Mastercard shed light on the benefits of effective personalisation in retail. //

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the morning of the third day of the Business Days conference, the topic was a general market assessment of the past year and a half, in the light of the shopping habits of households in e-commerce. Three presentations gave an overview of the situation in Hungary, which were followed by a roundtable discussion moderated by Emília Krug.

Pockets rattling with change – but is this the case everywhere?

Tünde Turcsán, managing director of GfK-YouGov Consumer Panel Services pointed out that consumer confidence and the financial situation in Hungary are far below the European average, with 76% of Hungarians consciously looking for bargains when shopping. In 2023 promotional sales increased by 36% in value and private label sales grew by 27% in FMCG.

 

People are still worried about inflation the most

Anita Mekler, a partner at PwC Magyarország shared the latest results of the “Voice of the Consumer” survey. Inflation is the biggest concern, with 77% of Hungarian respondents saying it is the top challenge. Getting value for money is another very important factor, cited by 42%.

Norbert Madar, senior manager of PwC Magyarország told: 4 million Hungarians regularly shop online and the Hungarian e-commerce market still has a 15% growth potential. Sales in the first half of the year reached HUF 810bn, from which HUF 140bn was generated by foreign players, with Temu alone responsible HUF 50bn. The strongest competitors in the domestic market are Kifli and Alza.

The online FMCG market has grown by 23%, showing outstanding growth potential. Kifli, Tesco and Auchan are the leaders of the FMCG segment, followed by DM and Rossmann.

In the roundtable discussion Ákos Forrás, country manager of Alza.hu told that in home delivery the conquest of parcel lockers makes it easier for shoppers to plan their day, which they value very much alongside speedy delivery.

Gábor Papp, head of online business at Tesco said they are satisfied with their annual performance, but there is still a lot of potential in terms of penetration in the countryside, as Tesco’s services are already available in nearly 900 municipalities.

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Avokado offers shoppers the possibility to get the products they want (often “love brands” not available elsewhere) from different retailers with a single order, in a short time, saving them the time otherwise spent shopping in stores.

CEO Tibor Székács told that building customer loyalty and enhancing the customer experience are priorities for them. The main tools for this are plannability and predictability.

 

Rita Szalma, commercial director of Kifli.hu, doesn’t believe that there is only potential for online expansion and building customer confidence in the countryside, because there is still great potential in Budapest too. Kifli pays particular attention to premium products and serving niche markets, with a focus on speciality food items and organic products (even fresh ones from small local suppliers).

 

In 2023 the Rossmann online shop grew well above the market average, according to head of webshop Ádám Fürjes. Strengthening their rural presence is a key objective this year, trying to achieve greater territorial coverage with lots of smaller stores, but they can’t compete with the larger chains everywhere. A product subscription system has been introduced to meet customer demand, but so far this service has had a mixed reception.

 

Home delivery continues to dominate the domestic market, but demand for parcel lockers and parcel collection points is growing. László Varga, sales and marketing director of DPD pointed out that DPD is the only courier service provider in Hungary to offer a dedicated one-hour time slot. One of their new services is DPD Fresh, which offers the guaranteed next-day delivery of fresh food under normal courier conditions, using a passive cooling process.

 

On Wednesday afternoon the programme began at the Logistics and Transport Department of the FMCG Open University. Emília Krug continued to act as moderator throughout the day.

The first roundtable of the afternoon concentrated on a general market assessment of the past year and a half and discussed future opportunities.

András Táncsics, the CEO of Boxy told: in the first two years of the last three-year period cumulative growth in e-commerce was 80%, with almost everything selling. This trend reduced the importance of efficiency, but the situation has dramatically changed by now, with the entry of a Chinese giant using high-quality marketing and logistics solutions. The change will be even more serious if it reaches the FMCG sector.

 

Szabolcs Czifrik, the CEO of DPD pointed out that consumer preferences have been changing rapidly since the COVID period, with more and more shoppers choosing fixed point delivery options (parcel lockers and parcel points) instead of home delivery. DPD’s goal is a high level of automation. Automation and digitalisation are key to cost efficiency.

 

 

 

When choosing logistics partners, price is the No.1 consideration, said Dr Zoltán Doór, president of the Hungarian Logistics Association. However, customers are also paying more attention to the environmental impact than before. They are already taking ESG considerations into account, opting for the lowest-impact logistics service provider if the price is the same.

 

Nikoletta Kiss, owner and CEO of Palmsped stressed that cost efficiency is a priority for many, but trust and reliability are also essential. If a service provider keeps its promises, partners are willing to pay a higher price. Rapid reaction, accurate and continuous information are expected in the market.

 

 

 

Gergely Lakatos, business development and marketing manager at MHC Mobility underlined that measuring CO2 emissions is crucial in ESG planning, and it isn’t enough to do it within the company, as Scope 3 emissions are becoming critical for large firms.

MHC Mobility has compiled a matrix of 27 simple tips on how companies can curb their environmental impact.

 

To do it or not to do it?

Next the spotlight was on sustainability status reports. Irén Márta, managing director of the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary gave a presentation on three main topics: the global sustainability landscape, regulatory challenges and positive examples. The circular economy is fundamental if we want to achieve the sustainability goals. We have no choice: we need to meet growing demand more efficiently with fewer resources.

 

Szabolcs Pattzai, country manager of Blue White Heart highlighted four main food trends: speciality foods (gluten-free, lactose-free), plant-based diets, sustainable foods and health-conscious eating. The organisation wishes to combine the latter two, with Martontej and Auchan among its partners. Blue White Heart excludes imported soy and palm oil and uses local ingredients instead.

 

 

 

 

 

System launch with lots of challenges

Another roundtable followed where Csilla Zombory, head of quality and environment at SPAR shared the challenges of the first year of the deposit return system (DRS). They had a very short time to prepare after the legislation had been published. Reverse vending machines had many faults and stores had to take back drink containers manually. Right now the biggest challenge is logistics: shops don’t have the capacity to store the millions of returns per day.

 

Szilvia Szabó, head of producer responsibility systems at MOHU Zrt. told that according to some estimates 8.5-9 million bottles are put on the market daily in Hungary, and the goal is to increase the return rate to 90% within three years. From 1 January to the end of September 2024 385 million bottles were returned. As part of the network expansion, hundreds of new reverse vending machines are installed across the country this year.

 

 

László Büki, honorary president of the Association for Sustainable Packaging and founder of BS Plastic stressed that it isn’t the material of the packaging that determines its sustainability, but its life cycle. It is a misconception that paper is automatically more environmentally friendly than plastic, as paper production also has a big environmental impact.

 

 

Bernadett Strasser-Kátai, owner and CEO of Real Nature spoke about the importance of sustainable packaging, pointing out that her company uses 89% sustainable materials such as rPET and paper. While they are open to all new solutions, the most important thing is to keep fresh food fresh in the right packaging.

 

 

Miklós Nagy, technical secretary of the Hungarian Association of Packaging and Materials Handling (CSAOSZ) gave background information on the upcoming packaging regulation, PPWR, which has been adopted by the European Parliament but hasn’t entered into force yet. It will make reusable or refillable packaging mandatory for around ten product categories, for example for large household appliances, with a 90% share from 2030.

 

 

According to Ildikó Balázs, co-president of the National Trade Association and director of corporate affairs at Auchan, the three key areas of sustainability challenges at the moment are DRS, food rescue and the EU’s deforestation regulation, EUDR. With regard to the latter, it is important that every retailer and supplier – whose cooperation is essential – is at the same information level.

Az EUDR szabályozása hét termékcsoportra vonatkozik, amelyek a következők: szarvasmarha, kakaó, kávé, pálmaolaj, szója, fa és gumi. Minden érintett terméknél egy kötelező átvilágítást kell végezni a nyomon követési rendszer keretében, amelynek módszerét a cégek maguk választhatják meg. A központi információs rendszerben összegyűjtött adatokat a saját kockázatelemzésükbe kell beépíteniük, és ha a vizsgálat során jelentős kockázatot találnak, megfelelő intézkedéseket kell hozniuk annak csökkentésére. Ez a folyamat jelentős adminisztrációs terhet ró a kereskedőkre, és jogi kötelezettségeket is előír.

 

 

Environmentally friendly solutions

Three presentations followed after the roundtable discussion.

Werner & Mertz was founded in 1867 and it is a leader in manufacturing environmentally friendly cleaning products. Niklas Kothbauer, senior trade marketing manager at Erdal (Austria) highlighted the company’s commitment to sustainability and innovation in ecological cleaning products, especially through their Frosch brand. Their top innovations include the Frosch Mondi sachet and the 3R trigger.

 

László Tóth, sales manager at Smurfit Westrock talked about the sustainability benefits of paper packaging in his presentation. Smurfit Westrock’s experience is that switching to paper packaging isn’t only environmentally friendly, but can also have marketing, cost reduction and economic benefits.

 

 

 

Attila Kisfali, subregional sales, marketing and innovation director of DS Smith explained that the EU’s new environmental directives, in particular PPWR, are bringing major changes to the packaging sector. The objective is to make all packaging recyclable by 2030. DS Smith is already offering innovative solutions such as Light Wrap. In the evening, the focus was on the labour market.

Attila Fülöp, state secretary of the Ministry of the Interior responsible for care policy told in his presentation: Hungary has made significant progress in the employment of people with disabilities in recent years, with the employment rate growing from 18% to 50% over the past 25 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Internal integration is also necessary

Wednesday’s final roundtable put Attila Fülöp’s thoughts into a practical context.

 

 

 

 

 

CBA and PENNY receive Retail Award of Excellence for Hungarian Products, SPAR wins Consumer Award of Excellence again

This year created a special situation for the winners of the Retail Award of Excellence for Hungarian Products. The award – founded by the Hungarian Product Nonprofit Kft. and Trade magazin – was shared by CBA Kereskedelmi Kft. and PENNY Market Kft. The silver medal went to Auchan Hungary Kft., while SPAR Magyarország Kereskedelmi Kft. went home with the bronze medal. The trade special prize was awarded to TISZA-COOP Zrt. and once again, after 2023, SPAR won the Consumer Award of Excellence in 2024. //