2013 B&I Census: Revenue increased for most B&I operators last year

Late-night dining, budget cuts and food trends also included in the 2013 B&I Census. 

Revenue Boost
The majority of operators—at 59%—saw an increase in their foodservice revenue in the past year. Locations that are subsidized were sigificantly more likely to report an increase, with 69% of operators seeing an increase in revenue last year. For those locations that saw an increase, the average jump was 10%. For operations that reported a decrease in revenue, the average drop was 10%.

Average Daily Meals/Transactions
Locations in the South serve the most, while the West lags behind.

10% is the average amount of food purchases that are organic, for those operators who purchase organic food items. 

A Look Ahead
In most cases, operators expect business conditions to remain the same in the coming year.  

Foodservice staff
Operators with annual purchases of fewer than $1 million are significantly less likely to expect an increase in staff (5% versus 31% for operations with more than $1 million). Operators in the Northeast are the most likely to anticipate a decrease in staff, at 40%.

Menu offerings
This is an area where more operators foresee an increase. Operators in the Northeast, at 73%, are the most likely to expect an increase, versus 44% in other regions. Eighty percent of operators with annual purchases of $5 million or more anticipate an increase in menu offerings, versus 41% of those with lower annual purchases.

Equipment budget
Operations that serve 5,000 or more meals/transactions per day are significantly more likely to expect a decrease in their equipment budget than those with fewer meals/transactions, 50% versus 11% respectively.

Food/beverage budget
Nearly half of operators at locations that have annual purchases of $5 million or more expect to see a decrease in their food and beverage budget in the next year, versus 7% for those with lower purchases. None of the operators in the West expect an increase in their food and beverage budget, versus 31% of those in the rest of the country. 

Customer base
Locations that are self-operated are significantly more likely to expect an increase in their customer base (78% versus 34% for contract). Locations that have 5,000 or more meals/transactions per day are more likely than operations with smaller meals/transactions to anticipate a decrease, 33% versus 5% respectively.

Dining Late? Better Eat at Home
B&I locations less likely to offer dinner or late-night service. Operations in the South and Northeast, at 41% and 33% respectively, are significantly more likely to offer dinner service than operations in the central region of the country. Only 8% of these operations offer dinner.

Over Run

Facing Challenges
Forty percent of operations say they are experiencing a decrease in participation due to more off-site competition. Not surprisingly, operators in accounts that are not subsidized are significantly more likely to report this as a challenge. Fifty-two percent of operators at non-subsidized locations report this as an issue they are facing, versus 30% for operators at subsidized locations. Self-operated locations are significantly more likely to say they are not facing any of these challenges, at 67%, versus 35% for contract-managed accounts.

Client Relationships
Most operators report that because clients view foodservice as an important employee benefit, foodservice is not a target for budget cuts. Operators in the West are significantly more likely than other regions to report this, at 88%, versus 48% for the rest of the country. Operations that are subsidized are also significantly more likely to report a favorable view toward foodservice programs, with 65% of operators at subsidized locations saying their clients do not view foodservice as a key target for budget cuts, versus 40% at non-subsidized accounts. 

Local Sourcing
Produce and baked goods are the two food categories most often purchased from local sources. Operations that have $5 million or more in annual purchases are significantly more likely to purchase baked goods from a local source (93%) than those with less than $5 million in annual purchases (52%). Locations with daily meal counts of 5,000 or more are significantly more likely to source meats locally, at 83%, than those locations with fewer meals/transactions (22%). Twenty-two percent of locations with fewer than 1,000 meals/transactions per day do not source any products locally, versus 4% for locations with 1,000 or more meals/transactions daily.