AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND. Leading figures from the Australasian airport food & beverage industry have praised and recommended a ground-breaking study into the sector produced by The Mercurius Group in partnership with The Moodie Davitt Report.
The research paper – titled the Airport Food & Beverage Study 2021 (AFABS) – focuses on the Australia and New Zealand airport F&B markets, covering all 27 airports across the two countries which have pre-pandemic annual passenger volumes exceeding 0.5 million annually.
“The AFABS study is an impressive reference work that will come in handy in assessing new opportunities and in keeping an eye on our competitors – it’s the only report of its kind in our industry and I thoroughly recommend it” – Airport Retail Enterprises CEO John Chapman
Among the report’s features, and in a first for the region and potentially globally, the AFABS includes a ranking of the Top 12 F&B in Australia and New Zealand operators based on sales.
Australian company Airport Retail Enterprises, with more than 50 F&B outlets across six airports, heads the rankings. Its CEO John Chapman said: “The Airport Food & Beverage Study AU+NZ by The Mercurius Group is a ground-breaking report. It comprehensively profiles both the top F&B operators as well as the F&B programmes of all the major airports in Australia and New Zealand.”
He added: “It is an impressive reference work that will come in handy in assessing new opportunities and in keeping an eye on our competitors – it’s the only report of its kind in our industry and I thoroughly recommend it to all those involved in the airport F&B industry including operators, airports, brands and suppliers.”
“The report provides great assistance as a tool for benchmarking and the planning of business development opportunities” – SSP Group Business Development Director APAC Matthew Hill
The methodology for the Top 12 F&B rankings is drawn from various published and unpublished sources, research, interviews with key industry participants, site visits and audits. It includes top-down PSR-based benchmarks and bottom-up, site-by-site, outlet-type-by-outlet-type estimates.
Another leading operator prominent within the rankings is SSP Group, one of the largest players in airport F&B worldwide. Business Development Director for the APAC region Matthew Hill said: “The team at SSP have found the Airport Food &d Beverage Study as compiled by the Mercurius Group to be a comprehensive, structured and insightful piece of work on our sector in the region.”
He added: “The report provides great assistance as a tool for benchmarking and the planning of business development opportunities. It would be fantastic to see this report updated on a regular basis. Equally it would provide huge benefit to see such a report prepared for other regions more broadly.”
Other key features of AFABS Australia and New Zealand include:
- An estimate of overall airport F&B sales in the Australian and New Zealand market;
- F&B PSRs by country, terminal type and airport size;
- F&B PSRs by outlet type, outlet location and operator size;
- The number and type of F&B outlets in the market;
- A ranking of the Top 12 F&B operators by sales and a profile of their outlet portfolio; and
- A profile of the F&B programme for each airport (and for each terminal where applicable).
AFABS also includes commentary on how airports build an F&B programme and the potential for F&B operator consolidation (mergers and acquisition activity) in the Australian and New Zealand airport F&B market.
The latter subject is particularly pertinent at a time when the Australasian airport industry and its F&B segment has been devastated by COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions. At the end of August, only 36% of the pre-pandemic levels of Australia and New Zealand airport F&B outlets are currently open, which could have a long-term effect on the balance of power in the market for the years to come.
A key conclusion of the AFABS is that the F&B market in Australia and New Zealand looks set for consolidation as local operators, international operators, brand operators, new entrants and private equity investors seek security and/or opportunities.
Readers of The Moodie Davitt Report have been kept informed of the pace of reopening in, and the challenges faced by, the Australia and New Zealand F&B sector in a long-running and fascinating series of monthly columns by The Mercurius Group Managing Director Ivo Favotto. [read the latest column here]
Reacting to the highly encouraging feedback to the AFABS report, Favotto, one of the leading authors of the research paper, said: “To receive high level recommendations for the report from Airport Retail Enterprises and SSP Group gives me and all those involved in the compilation of the AFABS report great satisifaction.
“This is an unprecedentedly challenging time for the F&B sector in Australia and New Zealand and I hope our report makes a contribution to understanding the key statistics and issues currently surrounding the market.”
The Moodie Davitt Report Chairman Martin Moodie said: “We are the only publisher to focus on the international airport food & beverage sector, which is integral to both the passenger experience and airport revenues, and one where we aim to provide unique insights and a depth of advisory expertise which doesn’t exist elsewhere today.
“To receive this excellent feedback and endorsements of this nature on AFABS from two key figures in the Australia and New Zealand F&B industry gives a significant cue to potential buyers of what we believe is a must-read report for sector players.”
Contact: For further comment and to purchase a copy of the AFABS, please contact:
Ivo Favotto
Managing Director
The Mercurius Group
ifavotto@themercuriusgroup.com
Tel: +61 423 564 057
