The food and beverage industry faces many challenges as companies struggle to keep up with changing consumer tastes and demographics. Today’s consumers demand bolder flavors, time-saving conveniences and tempting service options. They understand food safety and environmental issues and are concerned with supply chain protection and whether an operation has gone green. Moreover, current and future consumers embrace technology, an area in which the food and beverage industry has historically lagged.
Consumer lifestyle changes also add new complexity. The days of the three-martini lunch are long gone. New data shows that 50 percent of employees take 30 minutes or less for lunch, and 58 percent eat at their desk. These hurried lunch breaks equate to lost revenue for contract and self-operated dining facilities, making it more difficult for food and beverage businesses to remain profitable.
As investors and private equity firms increase their holdings in the food and beverage industry, it is important for them to understand a company’s true potential and the trends affecting each segment.
If this is your situation:
- You want to identify ways to increase revenues and improve profitability in your geographically dispersed restaurant portfolio.
- You want to understand your brand’s ability to grow in a variety of markets.
- Your company needs to reduce the cost of your contract-managed foodservice operations while keeping your employees and guests satisfied.
- You want to invest in or purchase a food and beverage company or ready your own company for sale.
- You are a hotel or residential facility and want to determine the best blend and use of food and beverage facility offerings.
- You need to assess your internal controls to improve accountability.
- You want to mitigate the risk of a supply chain breach or a food-borne illness outbreak.
How PricewaterhouseCoopers can help you
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC's) hospitality and leisure practice includes food and beverage specialists with extensive knowledge and global experience in all aspects and segments of the industry. Our team works closely with clients to identify and analyze issues, implement innovative solutions, and build strong, trusting relationships.
Because we understand that each business has unique needs, we design custom solutions for each client. Clients have relied on PwC to help them grow brand concepts, increase profitability of brands, ready their companies for sale, provide potential buyers with the insight they needed to make sound investment decisions, and identify significant savings. Our team has also worked with companies responding to food-borne illness outbreaks to help them implement proactive strategies to reduce the potential of an outbreak and assess supply chain risk.
PwC’s extensive food and beverage advisory services include:
- Asset analysis and monitoring
We work as an independent third party to inform companies of potential risks and opportunities that may affect operational performance and profitability.
- Operational and financial assessments
We conduct four-wall evaluations to analyze infrastructure, labor models, procurement/supply chain practices, internal controls, current appeal of menu selection, quality of operations, dining experience and historical financial results. Through these evaluations, we provide clients with independent observations and actionable recommendations to mitigate risk, increase revenues and improve profitability.
- Self-operating and contract dining foodservice assessment and development
Our experienced team can assess clients’ current contract foodservice environment and identify areas of potential improvement and savings. We also work with companies to define and articulate programmatic needs and financial goals to design a relevant foodservice strategy that meets the needs of both the company and its employees. We assist in creating targeted requests for proposal, identify potential contractors and evaluate responses.
- Transaction services/strategic assessment
We identify the core financial and operational strengths and weaknesses of a business: assess segment-specific industry trends and evaluate the competitive environment to identify barriers to entry/growth and market appeal. Our multi-layered approach, which often includes four-wall analysis of multiple locations, allows us to provide clients with a clear picture of a brand’s internal strengths and external opportunities for growth, increased revenues and potential savings.
- Market research
The PwC team gathers primary and secondary data and uses advanced analytical techniques to provide clients with recommendations to enhance their business. Our research includes location and industry-specific demographic, sociographic and competitor data.
- Infrastructure enhancement
We analyze current strategies and recommend a focused, disciplined model to build a sound infrastructure and organization that increases brand equity and profitability.
- Restaurant concept creation/readying concept for franchising
Our specialists recommend compelling, differentiated concepts that will allow growth for independent, multi-unit and franchise clients. We take existing brands and develop the operational support materials needed to ready the concept for franchising.
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