Bars and Cafes Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery to 2030

Major companies in the bars and cafe market include Starbucks; Whitbread PLC; Lavazza; Buffallo Wild Wings and Dunkin' Brands.

The global bars and cafes market is expected to grow from $335.55 billion in 2020 to $403.8 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.3%. The growth is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $512.98 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 6%.

The bars and cafes market consists of sales of alcoholic beverages for immediate consumption, nonalcoholic beverages and specialty snacks for consumption on or near the premises by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) including bars, taverns, nightclubs, or drinking places and fruit juice stalls, coffee shops and mobile beverage vendors that prepare and serve alcoholic beverages for immediate consumption or prepare and/or serve a specialty snack, such as ice cream, frozen yogurt, cookies, or popcorn, and/or serve nonalcoholic beverages, such as coffee, juices, or sodas for consumption on or near the premises. The bars and cafes market is segmented into snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars and drinking places (alcoholic beverages).

Asia Pacific was the largest region in the global bars and cafes market, accounting for 35% of the market in 2020. Western Europe was the second largest region accounting for 34% of the global bars and cafes market. Africa was the smallest region in the global bars and cafes market.

Technological advances are enabling beverage serving companies to deliver customized, convenient, fast and adaptable services. Cafes around the world are investing in WiFi-enabled coffee makers that can brew coffee according to the user’s specific individual taste. Selfiii International, a Malaysian company, developed a printer that can print selfies of customers onto their coffee, making the coffee experience more personal, thereby increasing sales. Bars, taverns and nightclubs are also increasingly offering technology-driven solutions and services. They are innovating the way customers order and pay for food and drinks by introducing self-ordering touchscreen kiosks, mobile apps for customizable orders and quick payment, digital entertainment.

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has acted as a massive restraint on the bars and cafes market in 2020 as governments globally imposed restrictions on domestic and international travel limiting the need for services offered by these establishments. COVID 19 is an infectious disease with flu-like symptoms including fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing. The virus was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province of the People’s Republic of China and spread globally including Western Europe, North America and Asia. Steps by national governments to contain the transmission have resulted in a decline in economic activity with countries entering a state of 'lock down' and the outbreak is expected to continue to have a negative impact on businesses throughout 2020 and into 2021. However, it is expected that the bars and cafes market will recover from the shock across the forecast period as it is a 'black swan' event and not related to ongoing or fundamental weaknesses in the market or the global economy.

As the bars and cafés market is largely driven by the spending power of its consumers, steady gains in disposable personal income are expected to boost the industry in the forecast period. Many developed and developing countries across the world are forecasted to register a steady economic growth resulting in higher disposable incomes and subsequently higher spending for services such as bars and cafés. For instance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the global real GDP growth will be 3.7% over 2019 and 2020, and 3.6% from 2021 to 2023. Thus, the rise in purchasing power with the economic growth is expected to drive the bars and cafés market in the forecast period.