Seafood in foodservice

Overview of the out-of-home market in Italy and comparisons between various proteins


In 2024 the out-of-home market in Italy is worth €71bn, which is an increase of 2,8 % from the previous year. However, visits are down 4,1 % since 2019.

Figure 20: Total OOH market in Italy for 2024. Source: Circana / Crest

Looking closer at the visits and spending in figure 20, there is a downward trend for growth compared to the first two years after the pandemic. 

YoY trend is the following: 

  • 2022 (+25,3 %), 2023 (4,4 %) and 2024 (0,4 %) for visits.
  • 2022 (+30,4 %), 2023 (10,1 %) and 2023 (2,8 %) for spend. 
Figure 21: Number of visits and spend during the year. Source: Circana/ Crest

Checking for the number of visits during the year, there is a natural increase in visits during the summer months, while slowly declining towards the latter parts of the year, as shown in figure 21. This is natural because of an increase in tourism during the summer months. Spending shows somewhat of the same trend but differs with the fact that there is a slight increase in spending towards the end of the year.

Despite a declining trend in visits, Italians' out-of-home consumption is nearing pre-pandemic levels. Spending has surpassed 2019 levels due to inflation since 2022. Monthly trends for spending between 2019-2024 remain consistent.

Italians out-of-home split between pork, fish & seafood, beef, poultry and plant based alternatives look like this:   

  

Figure 22: % Servings of total protein. Source: Circana/ Crest
  • Fish and Seafood captures the largest share of out-of-home consumption between the main protein sources, with poultry coming second in 2024.
  • Pork has seen a gradual decline in shares and now captures fourth place on the list of protein consumed out of the home.
  • Beef consumption increased between 2019 and 2024, ranking third among proteins consumed outside the home.
Primary channels for overall out-of-home consumption

Primary channels for overall out-of-home consumption

Full Service Restaurants:

Typically, restaurants where customers are seated by waiters. 
Often, given menus at the table and waiters take the orders there.
Given their meals by the table and pay for the meal after they’ve finished eating. 

Take away/ Quick Service Restaurants : 

Offer food with fast and minimal preparation time.
Customers are not expected to eat at the restaurant, although the possibility is there.
Paying for the meal up front most of the time. 

Cafes and Bars: 

Places where drink consumption often is the focus whether it be coffee or beer/wine. However, food is also consumed here. 

Street Food: 

Sold by vendors outside to customers and often from movable carts or booths.
The format given to the customers is usually ready-to-eat meals in a dispensable container. 

Figure 23: Global foodservice market by the different types of restaurants in 2023. Source: Deloitte | Foodservice Market Monitor 2024.

Notice how Italy’s split for the different types of restaurants is mostly the same as the world average (“Total”) in figure 23. The highest concentration of Full Service Restaurants are in Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Japan. This is the same in the European countries Italy and France and in Mexico.

For the Quick Service Restaurants, the countries with these types as the largest share are in the UK and the US. Cafes and Bars are represented heaviest in Spain and Brazil, in Spain this comes down to often serving tapas in either cafes or bars. And lastly, the largest share of Street Food is eaten in Mexico. 

Out of home consumption for fish and seafood in Italy 


In 2024 there were around 1 billion servings of fish and seafood in Italy. This was an increase of 3,3 % since 2023. Splitting up the category looks like this: 

Figure 24: Total Out of home Fish vs Seafood. Source: Circana/ Crest.

Most fish servings were consumed in independent restaurants (71%), compared to brand chains (29%). This trend indicates a shift, with a 20,5% increase in brand chain consumption and a 5,3% decrease in independent restaurant consumption in 2024.

Figure 25: Total out of home market for fish and seafood in Italy for 2024 and change vs 2023. Source: Circana/ Crest.

The largest share of the out-of-home consumption of fish and seafood takes place at school or in the workplace for most Italians in 2024. This category also increases compared to 2023, together with Full-Service Fish, Quick-Service Pizza/Italian and Quick-Service Coffee.

Salmon, baccalà and stockfish in foodservice 

Figure 26: Different species and total foodservice servings in 2019, 2023 and 2024. Source: Circana/ Crest.

The largest category in Italy inside the fish and seafood sector is salmon. Even though we only see a 6 % increase in servings out-of-home for salmon between 2023 and 2024, there is an increase of around 70 million in terms of overall servings pre-pandemic to 2024.

Baccalà has seen a gradual increase from 2019 through 2024, and even though stoccafisso/stockfish still is a relatively small category, there is a sense that the importance of this category will grow in the years to come.