Stay ahead of the curve and future-proof your business with Mintel’s Germany World Cuisines in Foodservice Market Report 2024. Our full report is packed with consumer-led market intelligence, foodservice menu trends in Germany, and consumer behaviours. Get a 360° view of the German foodservice market including consumer attitudes towards world cuisines and a growth forecast to help you align your business strategy with the needs of your audience.
Below, we’ve handpicked the key insights analysed in the full report and summarised the core topics.
Our Report Delivers Key Insights On
- Market drivers for world cuisines in the German foodservice market, including the impact of inflation, the search for escapism, new cultural experiences via food, and more.
- Popular world cuisines at restaurants and food outlets.
- Types of foodservice venues where world cuisines are enjoyed, including opportunities for food trucks as a marketing and sales channel.
- Factors that drive choice of foodservice dishes, with authenticity being a priority.
- Consumer behaviours towards world cuisines in the German foodservice market, including interest in world cuisine dishes that combine different cuisines.
World Cuisines in the German Foodservice Market: An Overview
Inflation-driven financial concerns are making world cuisine diners wary of trialling new dishes, especially those who are worse off, prompting many to opt for familiarity over experimentation.
However, there is potential to entice consumers with affordable global snacks and sides, by putting a global spin on familiar dishes.
Germany Foodservice Market: What Consumers Want and Why
- Foodservice Menu Trends in Germany: A majority of 70% of consumers in Germany eat or order world cuisines from restaurants and food outlets, with Chinese being the most popular. Adventurous younger generations, in particular Gen Z, enjoy exploring less-established cuisines in Germany like Mexican and Korean, with opportunities to cater to their culinary curiosity with world-cuisine mash-ups.
- Consumer Behaviour in the Germany Foodservice Market: Full-service restaurants are the preferred venue for world cuisines, but food truck event catering is gaining traction as a marketing and sales channel.
- Key Market Drivers for World Cuisines in Foodservice: Despite challenges, world cuisines offer cultural enrichment and escapism, especially as travelling abroad remains limited. However, authenticity is key, with 58% of German consumers associating it with traditional recipes. This showcases traditional preparations and offering regional dishes can enhance both authenticity and value perceptions.
More About This Report
This report examines consumer attitudes towards world cuisine flavours and dishes in the Germany foodservice market. For the purpose of this Report, world foods are defined as beyond European and North American foods.
Included in this report:
- Chinese food – includes Peking, Cantonese, and other Chinese variations
- Indian food
- Mexican/Tex-Mex food
- Other international food, such as African or South American
Meet The Expert
This report was written by Eliana Riera-McInnes, Research Analyst. Eliana focuses on consumer and market trends in the German foodservice sector. She has worked in different areas of the foodservice industry, including business strategy, market research, operations, and marketing.
Our analysis of world cuisines in the German foodservice market shows that authenticity resonates with German consumers who are chasing escapism. Brands can resonate with consumers by offering them dining experiences that let them travel the world via global flavours in affordable or familiar formats as high prices prompt more cautious menu choices.
Eliana Riera-McInnes
Research Analyst – Foodservice
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Overview
- The five year outlook for world cuisines in foodservice
- Market context
- The end of the reduced VAT on meals triggers more price increases in foodservice
- Financial worries prompt Germans to seek adventure within the familiar as escapism fuels interest
- Graph 1: consumers who say financial concerns have put them off trying new world cuisine dishes at restaurants/food outlets in the last six months, by financial situation, 2024
- Mintel predicts
- Capitalise on the rising interest in Latin American and Caribbean cuisines
- Graph 2: consumers who have not eaten/ordered the following world cuisines from restaurants/food outlets but are interested in doing so, 2024
- Boost global flavour experimentation to respond to a diverse German population and adventurous young generations
- Graph 3: proportion of the population with a migrant background in the wider sense*, 2017-23
- Harness the power of flavour-forward cuisine
- Opportunities
- On a quest for authenticity
- Demonstrate rather than claim authenticity
- Tap into regionality to deliver a more nuanced experience of world cuisines
- Help consumers bring the world cuisine restaurant experience home
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MARKET DRIVERS
- The German economy
- 2024 is expected to remain challenging
- Graph 4: key economic data, in real terms, 2019-25
- The inflation rate is bouncing back to more conventional levels
- Inflation is still the key factor affecting consumers’ finances…
- …confidence and expenditure
- Graph 5: financial confidence index, 2022-24
- Market drivers for world cuisines in foodservice
- Expiry of reduced VAT for meals prompts further price increases in foodservice
- Germans are turning to takeaway as an affordable, convenient treat
- Focus on improving the experience of enjoying takeaway world cuisines
- Financial concerns make worse-off Germans wary of new world cuisine trial…
- Graph 6: consumers who say financial concerns have put them off trying new world cuisine dishes at restaurants/food outlets in the last six months, by financial situation, 2024
- …but as Germans travel abroad less, they will seek new cultural experiences through food
- Germans’ menu choices stand in contrast with their healthy eating intentions
- The BMEL’s Nutrition Strategy offers a chance to use global flavours to encourage healthier, more sustainable dining choices
- New EU rules likely to impact availability and price of imported ingredients…
- …but will help foodservice improve sustainability and ethical credentials of world cuisine dishes
- Climate change could lead to pricier world cuisine dishes, prompting the use of more sustainable local ingredients
- An increasingly diverse German population will broaden the culinary landscape, catering to more diverse palates…
- Graph 7: proportion of the population with a migrant background in the wider sense*, 2017-23
- …but an ageing, less engaged population could dampen the growth of less established world cuisines
- Graph 8: proportion of the population aged 65+, 2022-40
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Popular world cuisines at restaurants/food outlets
- The rise of global eats
- World cuisines enjoy widespread appeal in foodservice
- Chinese is by far Germans’ favourite world cuisine at restaurants and food outlets
- Graph 9: world cuisines eaten/ordered from restaurants/food outlets in the last six months, 2024
- 16-24s are most adventurous when it comes to world cuisines…
- Graph 10: repertoire of world cuisines eaten/ordered from restaurants/food outlets, by age, 2024
- …which is reflected in their love for less-established and emerging cuisines
- Graph 11: select world cuisines eaten/ordered from restaurants/food outlets in the last six months, by age, 2024
- Support 16-24s in their adventurous endeavours
- Tap into interest in exploring Latin American and Caribbean cuisines
- Graph 12: consumers who have not eaten/ordered the following world cuisines from restaurants/food outlets but are interested in doing so, 2024
- Type of foodservice venues where world cuisines are enjoyed
- World cuisines are by and large enjoyed at full-service restaurants
- Encourage trial of global flavours beyond sit-down restaurants by using toppings as gateways
- Fast food: attract price-conscious fast food lovers with world cuisine-influenced snacks and sides
- Food truck catering, a rising marketing and sales channel
- Factors that drive choice of world cuisine dishes
- German consumers are after ‘real’ world cuisines in foodservice
- Demonstrate authenticity via a focus on traditional preparations
- Graph 13: features that make a world cuisine dish from restaurants/food outlets authentic, 2024
- Align tradition with tasty, made-from-scratch dishes
- Showcase scratch cooking and preparation methods…
- …by bringing the behind-the-scenes to the forefront
- Highlight collaborations with cooks/brands that share the cuisine’s heritage
- Let the food tell (complex) stories
- Move beyond mainstream staples by embracing regionality
- Deliver an authentic experience that goes beyond the food
- Tap into globally-inspired drinks for a better-rounded experience
- Leverage the human touch to spice up the enjoyment of world cuisines
- Make the new less daunting via flavour profiles on menus
- Enhance the link between health and world cuisines
- Boost choice of healthier world cuisine dishes by supporting specific nutritional priorities
- Behaviours towards world cuisines at restaurants/food outlets
- Germans seek adventure within safe boundaries amid economic pressures
- Graph 14: behaviours towards world cuisines at restaurants/food outlets, 2024
- Despite a demand for authenticity, there is space for experimentation given the appetite for fusion cuisines
- Broaden taste palettes by putting a spin on beloved familiar dishes
- Gen Z is eager to push the boundaries of world cuisine flavours
- Target adventurous, engaged Gen Zers with world cuisine mash-ups
- Use family-style, sharing world cuisine menus to foster adventurousness and togetherness
- Tempt financially confident, better-off world cuisine diners to trade up…
- Graph 15: spending behaviours regarding world cuisine dishes, 2024
- …via the power of scarcity and tiered-pricing strategies
- Bridge the gap between foodservice and at home cooking…
- …with uniquely crafted retail products…
- …and hard-to-source ingredients that help home cooks replicate dishes
- Korean food is the least enjoyed at home by diners of the same cuisine
- Graph 16: world cuisines eaten at home in the last three months by same cuisine eaten/ordered from restaurants/food outlets, 2024
- Offer part-prepared meals to make enjoying Korean cuisine at home more approachable
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LAUNCH ACTIVITY AND INNOVATION
- Amid rising localism, restaurants are blending global with local with ‘glocal’ dishes…
- …and ingredient brands with locally-produced world cuisine ingredients
- The importance of flavour-driven cuisine is driving the use of umami mentions in menus
- Street food references increasingly common across world cuisine concepts…
- …giving rise to more casual, specialised street food concepts
- The Döner kebab renaissance
- The Asian noodle craze continues, with a focus on regionality…
- …and fused noodle dishes
- Asian dessert and coffee shop concepts on the rise
- Global breakfast dishes are making their way to menus
- Two heavyweight global cuisine brands bet on the German market
- Advertising and marketing activity
- Hans im Glück takes customers on a trip to Mexico with its new limited-time Mexican-inspired range
- McDonald’s joins forces with the Kaulitz twins to infuse global cuisine flavours in its new plant-based burger
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APPENDIX
- Appendix – products covered, abbreviations, consumer research methodology and language usage
- Products covered in this Report
- Abbreviations
- Consumer research methodology
- TURF methodology
- TURF analysis methodology
- A note on language
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