Food service revenue declined last year for the first time since 2020, when the pandemic broke out, with data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) confirming the estimates of the sector, as well as businesses directly related to it, such as breweries and soft drink companies.
In fact, food service business revenue fell below the levels of 2023, while the losses compared to 2024’s approximately €383 million, a particularly high amount.
The reduction in food consumption by Greeks, as a result of the pressure on incomes in recent years, as well as the decrease in demand from foreign tourists, mainly Europeans, who prefer to consume more meals in the accommodation they are staying in, are the main causes of the decline in catering revenue.
ELSTAT data showed on Thursday that revenue in food service last year amounted to €10.73 billion, against €11.11 billion in 2024, recording a decrease of 3.4%. The 2025 revenue is also lower than that in 2023 (€10.84 billion).
The decline in revenue is not explained by a decrease in prices, because the exact opposite happened. The sector recorded, per the ELSTAT data, price hikes of 7% in 2025, which contributed significantly to the decline in demand. According to the large consumer trends survey (Future Consumer Index 2025) presented by EY at the end of November, almost one in two consumers estimates that in the future they will spend significantly more time at home (47%), an estimate that has increased considerably over time (from 41% in 2024 and 29% in 2023). This perception concerns all ages, including Gen Z (42%). And 40% of respondents intend to entertain themselves more at home, while an even higher percentage (49%, compared to 50% last year and 39% in 2023) state that in the future they will cook more at home.
With the inflationary crisis affecting the other European countries, too, even foreign visitors have been limiting their spending on food outside of a rented room or outside a hotel in the last two years. They choose to prepare their meals in the accommodation they are staying in or to order and consume them also in the accommodation, or to restrict consumption to what an all-inclusive hotel offers them.