World Cup 2022. Pizza, hamburger and fudge, the probable winners

Everyone remembers the impact of the 2018 World Cup building national momentum and for good reason. France had won the competition and commercial catering as a whole had also won the match to the tune of the Blues performances. While evening consumption generally represents only 7% of visits to cafés, bars and brasseries, the NPD Group points out, the indicator had risen to 10% in visits and 12% in expenses in the months of June-July 2018 with an overrepresentation of men (56% attendance in the evening, against 48% in normal hours). There was also a real boost in cafes, bars and brasseries for the over 50s on match nights (with 20% visiting during matches vs the usual 14%). As far as delivery is concerned, pizza has been a hit among young people: in July 2018, the share of 18-34 year olds in these orders was 68%, compared to the normal 45%.

Conviviality in winter mode!

Change of decor and atmosphere with a winter race. Go out to terraces or even outdoor screens and night gatherings sitting around a meal. While matches broadcast during the day favor the attendance of cafes, bars and pubs, the game is likely to be very different in the winter months. And table-side catering, served in the dining room at this time of year, appears to be a circuit less reconcilable with the times of the matches, broadcast above all during the day (11, 14, 17 and 20), explains the study company.

“With the cold and facing the economic situation, viewers are likely to choose a cozy and festive evening at home, to be able to gather in large numbers, limiting expenses related to drinks”, Maria Bertoch, Foodservice Expert at The NPD Group.

Burger-pizza in the competition and dishes to share in the first division

Faced with the probable absence of a terrace activity, it is very likely that the delivered catering which has managed to become part of the habits of the French after the health crisis appears as one of the biggest supporters of the sporting event. All the more so since, since the last World Cup, the home delivery market share has doubled in commercial catering, going from 3 to 6% of visits in September. Will pizza, the unbeatable component of the “TV, beer, pizza” trio during football evenings, lose ground in the face of the diversity of catering offers offered by aggregators? This question remains unanswered as the launch whistle has just sounded. In fact, if pizza represented one in four orders delivered in 2018, today it accounts for only one in 10 orders (from January to October 2022). Of this decline, the hamburgers are benefiting, which is experiencing an opposite progression: one in six orders include a hamburger for delivery since the beginning of 2022, compared to one in eight in 2018. Among this year’s big winners, the research also believes the performance of dark kitchens, these multi-brand virtual restaurants (including hamburgers and pizzas obviously), which should see their activity stimulated during the championship, betting on the local delivery menu and on an attractive and calibrated offer. If, as NDP Group points out, the effects of a possible boycott can influence forecasts, the fact remains that competition remains a business opportunity and that restaurateurs who want to take advantage of it have every interest in adapting the meal offers for groups, such as chopping boards and snacks to share with friends, if they want to earn points. The aim is to attract supporters in advance and retain them in the evening thanks to the animation of the happy hour, while the trend of “cocooning on the sofa” will remain the main opponent of out-of-home catering.