The Covid-19 pandemic will cause the Irish food service market here to contract in size by nearly half this year, new estimates from Bord Bia have found.
However, the report predicts that the sector will experience a recovery next year, even in the worst case scenario. The food service market includes food and drink consumed and prepared outside the home in places like restaurants, pubs, hotels, coffee shops, workplace canteens, hospitals, education and from vending.
According to the Bord Bia 2020 Irish Foodservice Market Insights Report, this so-called out of home industry will be worth €4.5bn this year.
This will represent a drop of €4bn compared to the performance of the industry last year. The contraction, caused by a collapse in demand