Skip to main content
Hit enter to search or ESC to close

Narrow down your searches to:

  • All
  • Food is Living
  • Industry
  • Farmers & Growers
Top Picks
Bord Bia

Welcome to the January edition of Bord Bia's Ireland Market Foodservice Newsletter.

Happy New Year to all of our readers, we hope that you had an enjoyable Christmas break. 

In her end of year article for the Irish Times, Restaurant Critic & Food Writer Corinna Hardgrove references some of the findings from Bord Bia’s 2023 Irish Foodservice Market Insights report, along with our 2023 Consumer Foodservice Inflationary Impact research. She highlights a backdrop of closures as restaurants continue to struggle with escalating costs and points out that a number of top end restaurants are adapting their offerings for customers that have become more price sensitive. However, although we are seeing a number of outlets close their doors, at the same time there are a number of new openings already in the pipeline for 2024. As ever, it’s all about location, and a positive trend for smaller towns around the country is how new café and restaurant openings are creating important social hubs in their local communities.

OPINION PIECE: WHAT'S ON THE MENU FOR 2024

January is traditionally a time when we look for inspiration as to what trends may be shaping the year ahead. Technomic foodservice market researchers have published an online 2024 Global Restaurant Trends Forecast white paper that can be accessed as a .pdf here. This outlook examines some of the pivotal shifts shaping menus, operations and consumer experiences in 2024. From accelerated innovation to evolving culinary influences, click here for more insights into this year’s predicted restaurant trends.

GENERAL INDUSTRY NEWS

Irish inflation drops to 3.9% as falling energy prices ease pressure on households


Irish Times  – 14.12.2023 
Headline inflation in the Irish economy has fallen below 4 per cent for the first time in over two years, partially easing the pressure on consumers and businesses. Inflation, which measures the rate at which consumer prices increase, dropped to 3.9 per cent in the year to November, down from 5.1 per cent the month before, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). This is the first time since September 2021 (when it was 3.7 per cent) that inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the State’s official barometer, has been below 5 per cent. The latest figures reflect a general easing of price pressures across the Irish economy on the back of falling energy prices internationally and as a result of 10 straight interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank (ECB).

Accomodation and flight capacity issues could halt tourism growth in 2024, industry warns


Irish Times – 27.12.2023 
The value of overseas visitors to Ireland in 2024 can grow beyond the €5.3 billion recorded this year but accommodation and airport capacity constraints could put the brakes on expansion, the umbrella group representing the sector has warned. The assessment from the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) suggests that the sector, which employed 254,000 people this year, continues to be robust despite the cost of living crisis at home and geopolitical events taking place overseas. The umbrella group estimated that €5.3 billion will have been spent by international visitors to Ireland by the time the midnight bells chime on New Year’s Eve. It also suggested that growth of 5 per cent in real terms was possible next year. That would see the value of the sector climbing to close to €5.6 billion with the North American market offering the best prospects for growth.

QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANT (QSR) & PUB SECTOR

 

Azzuri Group takes significant step toward launching Boojum in England


Propel – 11.12.2023  
Azzurri Group, the ASK Italian, Zizzi and Coco Di Mama operator, is to take a significant step towards launching its Boojum brand in England with the opening of a central production kitchen (CPK) in Leeds, Propel has learned. Propel revealed earlier this summer that the Steve Holmes-led business was to broaden its portfolio and enter the Mexican-themed fast-casual restaurant market with the acquisition of Boojum, the Belfast-based burrito chain. 

Irish pubs with a food focus attract more visitors 


Hospitality Ireland – 07.12.2023   
Casual-dining restaurants and pubs with a food focus were the most popular channels for the Irish drinks trade during a three-month period. This is according to the latest CGA by NIQ’s Ireland OPUS 2023 Report, which leverages on-premise market measurement, location planning, sales targeting, and consumer research to track consumer eating- and drinking-out behaviours.The report shows a higher proportion of consumers visiting pubs, bars and restaurants for food-led occasions, but it’s drink-led visitors who visit the on-trade more frequently and spend more when they are out.

HOTEL AND RESTAURANT SECTOR

Maldron hotel operator Dalata expects revenue to reach €600m


Irish Examiner – 13.11.2023  
The largest hotel operator in Ireland Dalata reported another record year after adding to its portfolio and benefitting from high room rates. The Maldron operator shares jumped 2% after it said hotel revenue is expected to exceed €600m for the year, surging from just over €500m reported in 2022.

Sweden-based Mexican fast-food franchise to make UK regional debut and open first Irish restaurant in 2024


Propel – 04.01.2024  
Sweden-based Mexican fast-food franchise chain Zócalo is set to make its UK regional debut and open its first Irish restaurant in 2024. Zócalo, which was founded in 2002 and has since grown to 25 restaurants in Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, opened its first UK site in September. “In 2024 there are a lot of things happening,” said Zócalo chief executive, Einar Örn Einarsson. “We will open our first restaurant in Ireland, in the city of Cork, in the first weeks of January and hopefully follow that up with at least one restaurant outside of London in the coming months. We have so many people who are interested in opening Zócalo restaurants in the UK, so hopefully our master franchisees can get a couple of deals across the finish line.” 

ROUTE TO MARKET & CASUAL DINING SECTOR

 

Diageo €200m Brewery in Kildare


Hospitality Ireland – 15.12.2023  
An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for Diageo to build Ireland’s first purpose-built carbon-neutral brewery on a greenfield site in Littleconnell, Newbridge, Co. Kildare.The €200 million facility will brew lagers and ales, including Rockshore, Harp, Hop House 13, Smithwick’s, Kilkenny and Carlsberg.When fully operational, with a capacity of two million hectolitres, it will be the second-largest brewing operation in Ireland, after St James’s Gate.

300,000 Meals Delivered to Irish Food Charities by Deliveroo and Foodcloud


Hotel and Restaurant Times – 22.12.2023 
Deliveroo Ireland has announced that it has donated more than 300,000 meals to people experiencing food insecurity across Ireland through a national charity partnership. 308,000 meals have been distributed to vulnerable people and families in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway by local charities such as Feed Cork, Empower and Novas Limerick thanks to a partnership between Deliveroo Ireland and tech based food redistribution enterprise FoodCloud. The partnership, which began in 2022, aims to provide half a million meals for FoodCloud’s network of 650 community and voluntary groups across Ireland by 2024. The partnership is part of Deliveroo Ireland’s global Full Life campaign. Full Life aims to use Deliveroo’s unique network of riders, grocers, restaurants, and customers for good and support the local communities in Ireland where it operates.