Catering in France is based on a binary model that is too often overlooked: in equal proportions between commercial catering financed by the consumer, and subsidized collective catering, public or private. Behind this apparent stability, profound changes and systemic tensions are shaking the sector. Here is a lucid and numerical overview, to understand the issues at work — and to glimpse possible courses of action.

Two legs, two logics

French catering is based on two pillars of equivalent size in terms of number of meals served :

• Commercial catering (fast, at the table, transport, accommodation) where the customer pays for the entire meal, margin included.
  
• Collective catering (school, medico-social, hospital, prison, businesses...) where part of the price is subsidized by the State, local authorities or employers.
  

This division is embodied in a volume of 7.3 billion meals a year, equally divided between the two branches.

An industry that is still recovering

COVID has permanently upset the balance. In 2023, the volume of meals had still not returned to its 2019 level. If the value of the global market (€80 billion) seems to have stabilized, it is at the cost of inflation and the rise in raw materials.

Commercial catering: growth under pressure

A market dominated by fast food

The commercial landscape is driven by the Fast food, with giants like McDonald's (€6.3 billion), Burger King or KFC. This segment represents 80% of the volume of meals served commercially, but only counts 10% of restaurants, concentrated in the hands of powerful chains that realize more than 50% of total turnover.

Warning signs

Commercial catering is suffering from:

• Staff shortages, exacerbated post-Covid, due to the hardship and a loss of attractiveness of jobs.
  
• Increased consumer demands, with expectations of memorable and “Instagrammable” experiences.
  
• Increased delivery competition, which requires a review of the economic model.
  
• Fragile profitability, between soaring costs and erratic attendance.

🎯 The opportunities? A pleasant, qualitative, experiential restaurant, capable of reinventing itself in its relationship to taste, service, and the environment.

Collective catering: a public good in tension

A hybrid model, between public and private

Collective catering is 75,000 restaurants (compared to nearly 200,000 for the commercial one), for a value of €20 billion.
Two logics coexist:

• Self-managed : managed directly by the community or institution (schools, hospitals, etc.).
  
• Conceded : delegated to private operators (Sodexo, Elior, Compass).

The “work” segment is the most “privatized” with 80% of meals granted.

Public procurement under constraints

Public catering is under double pressure:

• Regulatory, with laws such as EGalim (50% of quality products, 20% of which are organic) or AGEC (zero plastic, fight against waste).
  
• Budgetary, because the quality requested (organic, local, homemade) is not accompanied by adequate financing.

Result: goals still far from being achieved (27.9% of sustainable products, of which only 13% are organic), a degraded image (scandals in nursing homes, mobilization of parents), and operators caught between political ambition and reduced margins.

A sector at a crossroads

Whether commercial or collective, The restaurant world is facing a complex equation :

• Serve better, more sustainably.
  
• Facing a loss of meaning and attractiveness of jobs.
  
• Addressing immense environmental and nutritional challenges.
  
• Meet ever stronger societal expectations, between pleasure, health, accessibility and transparency.
  

And yet, catering is a place of social connection, discovery, inclusion, culture. A space that, well accompanied, can be transformed.

Makers have a role to play

The message is clear: the restaurant industry needs us to meet its challenges. As actors in transition, social and food innovations, we need to help the profession regain its breath and meaning. By re-establishing links between producers, manufacturers, distributors, cooks and consumers. By promoting jobs. By unlocking business models. By restoring confidence in the plates. It's time to imagine together Tomorrow's table.

‍