【 📢FOODIVAL Blog✏️ 】No Guesswork, Just Growth: The Key Data Every Restaurant Owner Needs to Know!

Hong Kong’s F&B market has been badly hit by the pandemic and  remains in a phase of recovery without a sign of substantial growth. In addition to the global economic uncertainty, the industry has to cope with the “three big mountains” of high rents, manpower pressure and increasing food costs, which make operations increasingly difficult. With changing consumption habits locally and abroad, as well as intense competition across the sector, the traditional experience-based operational model alone can no longer support sustainable business growth, let alone drive higher profits.

Is Hong Kong’s F&B Industry Truly Recovering? A Closer Look at the Government’s Latest Figures !

（數據來源：香港特別行政區政府統計處《食肆的收入及購貨額按季統計調查報告》2025）

According to the Report on Quarterly Survey of Restaurant Receipts and Purchases  released by the Census and Statistics Department in 2025, For 2025 as a whole, the value of total receipts of the restaurants sector was provisionally estimated at $109.6 billion, increased by 0.2% in value but decreased by 0.9% in volume compared with the whole year of 2024. This figure suggests that the growth in revenue was mainly driven by price increases while the actual consumption remained weak. At the same time, the provisional estimate of the value of total purchases of restaurants decreased by 0.3% to $35.0 billion over the same period, indicating that the F&B industry has taken a cautious and conservative approach to procurement. This reflects restaurant owners’ efforts to better control procurement costs and inventory management in such a challenging market for reducing unnecessary expenses and food waste, easing overall operating cost pressures.

On the other hand, the government data also connotes the performance of different restaurant types, allowing F&B operators to learn from the more successful business models while avoiding the mistakes of underperforming restaurants. According to the report, non-Chinese restaurants delivered the strongest performance, with their annual receipts index rising steadily by 4% in value, making them the top performer among restaurant categories. In contrast, miscellaneous eating and drinking places and Chinese restaurants remained under pressure, recording negative growth of 2.8% and 2.9% respectively for the whole year, making them the two hardest-hit categories.

This divergence may, to some extent, suggest differences in operating models and the use of data across restaurant types. Chinese restaurants, in particular, tend to rely more heavily on experience and manual processes, which may make it difficult for them to access timely data required to improve operations in an increasingly competitive business environment, resulting in unstable costs and revenue. As the F&B market becomes more clearly segmented, restaurant owners need to be more flexible and leverage actual operational data to identify the most effective strategy for their own businesses! 

The Way to Stand Out in Intense Competition: Data Management Is the Key

The F&B industry faces challenges beyond market economy. It is not simply about whether the market is “booming” or “shrinking”, but more about how restaurants can strengthen cost control and inventory management in a business environment where market demand has not fully recovered, competition remains intense and customer spending patterns continue to change. This is a long-term battle for the industry. When purchase strategy remains cautious and revenue growth is limited, any instance of overbuying, stockpiling ingredients, or food expiry can directly affect profit. To stay steady in such a competitive market, restaurant owners can no longer rely solely on guesswork or past experience. Instead, they need real data that reflects real-time business performance.

In this digital era, mastering data is the way to stand out. What restaurant owners truly need is to accelerate their digital transformation and adopt a purchasing and stock management system tailored for the F&B industry. Through systematic management, you can simplify and automate complex and error-prone manual workflows, standardise each step, and turn operational processes into valuable data for timely and better decision making. With data-driven decision-making, you are able to address operational pain points one by one and identify the most suitable strategies for your restaurants’ sustainable growth.

If you don’t want to make decisions based on guesswork anymore and hope to utilise data to support every step of your restaurant’s growth, don’t hesitate to  contact FOODIVAL system consultants today to learn more!