Analysis Of Fast Food Industry In Australia And Its Impact On Society

Trend of Eating out in Australia

Discuss about the Fast Food Demand In Australia.

A fast food restaurant or quick service restaurant refers to the specific type of food delivered within a short span of time and there is lesser table service than a fine dining restaurant. It is a popular service in all parts of the world and Australia is no exception. Fast food was always on demand due to its easy availability within very less time. It is convenient for any consumer to get gold of fast food within their nearby location at a reasonable price. As it is easily accessible, therefore there is increase in demand of fast food. This report will deal with the demand of fast food among individuals in different parts of the world with special focus on Australia (Alviola et al., 2014).

The trend of eating out is continuing for a long time in Australia. They were always in favor of visiting clubs, pubs, restaurants and fast food outlets and it is rapidly increasing. The market of café and bars are gaining more share in the market than other sectors in Australia. It has provided an opportunity for the new eateries to penetrate into the market. The total population of Australia is approximately 24 million and reports have suggested that on an average, they eat twice or thrice a week (Brindal et al., 2015). This figure sums up to an average of 50 meals eaten out every week by the Australians which rounds up to 2.5 billion every year. Therefore, it can be estimated that every Australian household spends around $94 for eating out every week, which makes it to $45 billion annually (Bailey, 2018). Following figure will give a visualization of the eating out trends among the Australians.  

The fast food industry is rapidly increasing not only in Australia but also all over the world. For instance, in the United States, the value of fast food industry is almost around 198.9 billion US dollars. It can be expected that in the next 2 years the figure will go up to more than 223 billion. However, this huge figure is mostly based on fast food services rather than dining, take- away, café or buffets. Two years ago, the numerical were around 186,977 after an increase of 28,000 in a decade (Alviola et al., 2014). Among the rapidly increasing fast food market, McDonald’s is a popular name, which carries a brand value of $88 billion. This brand has succeeded Starbucks by 44 billion in terms of market share as well as popularity. McDonald’s was a fast food chain with the maximum revenue and it was followed by Subway and Yum! Brands (De Vogli, Kouvonen and Gimeno, 2014).

Competitive Landscape of the Fast Food Industry

The above calculation on the consumption of fast food among the Australians carried evidence that fast food services in Australia are a big business. Rather, it can be considered as one among the largest industries in Australia, which bears more value than the coal export business of Australia.  In Australia there are around 85,000 eateries including 22,000 restaurants and 7000 bars and pubs (Estrade et al., 2014). It was found out that on an average these eateries earn $480,000 every year and the cafes get around $350,000. However, there is a tough competition in the eating out industry due to low entry costs and less regulation in the market. The companies have to come across many challenges in terms of selecting, recruiting and training eligible staff (Dodds et al., 2014). This report will focus on the challenges faced by the eateries in order to cope with the constant demand.    

Surveys were conducted for highlighting the challenges faced by the eateries or fast food services. The survey was conducted among 1009 eateries and 1095 customers by email for three weeks. The eateries were asked about the challenges faced in meeting the customer demands and the customers were enquired about their choice of food and restaurant, frequency of visiting the eateries and approximate investments (Estrade et al., 2014). The following graph will clarify the challenges faced by the eateries in Australia as per the survey outcome.

Certain prominent trends were observed while gathering information about the demand of fast food services in Australia and other places of the world. The points are summarized below-

• Declining popularity of traditional cuisines: due to the increasing trend of the fast food services, the traditional cuisines such as Chinese and Italian are losing their popularity among the consumers. On the other hand, people are inclining towards the taste of easily available health Australian dishes.
• Increasing popularity of delivery services: due to the demand of take- away and eating out services, there is an uprising of delivery services. However, many people have found it as a hype of the fast food industry. This is because the thinking of the eateries managers and the consumers might not be on the right track. There is a doubt if the consumers are actually inclining in delivering food to their home or the managers are assuming so (Hale, 2017).  
• Demand of customers is increasing: according to the companies, the customers are always right. Therefore, it is their key role to meet the requirements, demands and necessities of the customers. It has led to pressure among the fast food services to maintain the requirements of the customer because failing to do so will lead to the complaints and anger.    
• Importance of marketing: marketing plays an important part in increasing the popularity of the dining and fast food services. Although online marketing is the recent fad, but attracting the customers with a gorgeous outlook is still not obsolete.
• Connection between the virtual world and the physical experience: online is the recent craze among individuals but still they prefer eating out to gain physical experience. It creates a connection between two or more individuals. However, online is used as an option to gather the physical experience by booking table or placing an order.
• Economical pressure is on the rise: the managers do not find it easy to run an eatery because it is hard to keep track of the financial records. As per the research carried out by Herforth and Ahmed (2015), it was found out that the wages paid to the general staff of the fast food services have surpassed the wages paid to the full- timers.
• Change in the customer choice: the recent trend has shown that the low- end markets are taking the place of the higher ones and vice- versa. In the same way, the fast food market is moving to take the place of fine dining which is again becoming less popular. It threw light on the change in customer choice regarding food and appetite (Scourboutakos, Murphy and L’Abbé, 2018).
• Healthy fast food is in fashion: the tradition of fast food services has changed. In order to meet the customer requirements, the eateries have introduced healthy dishes which are available quickly and do not take a toll on the health of the people. It has led to the increasing popularity of Japanese cuisine as it is considered healthier than steak houses.
• Challenges faced while staffing people: the fast food services is entirely depended on workforce. However, the managers find it difficult to get suitable people for working in the fast food services. It is the biggest issue found by the industry in the recent days, as there is no proper solution to finding and retaining good employees, in terms of skills and ethics (Lassen et al., 2016).

According to a major population of nutrition experts, too much consumption of fast food is taking a toll on human health. They have said that it is not a full course meal and contain high amount of salt and fat. Both these ingredients are not good if consumed excessively. The immediate effect that it can have on human health is obesity, which was felt among the US population and all over the world. People tend to overlook the negative effect of fast food, as it is available at much cheaper rate than a full course meal. It was assumed that poor people eat more fast food as they will not be able to afford to go to a fine dining restaurant. However, a survey was conducted among the US population to find out that poor people have much less tendency to eat fast food whereas the middle class population is more inclined to this eating habit (Novak, Narcisi and Cammarata, 2015). The following graph will give a clear idea about the fast food consumption trends among the US population based on their income.

Challenges Faced by the Eateries

If the countries are eager to take action against the excessive consumption of fast food by the citizens, then they should think of other options rather than restricting the eateries to operate in the low- income neighborhood. It was found out that the consumers who looked for the ingredients of the dishes were likely to intake lesser fast foods in comparison to other. It can be taken as an option to make the citizens realize the negative influence of fast food on their health and they can refrain themselves from consuming it (Scourboutakos, Murphy and L’Abbé, 2018).

Again, it was found out that the individuals tend to consume more fast food when they work for extra time. In that case, the income level of the individuals does not matter. They are lured by the cheaper rate and easy availability of the fast food services. In order to mitigate this issue the restaurants and eateries all over the world can start serving healthy dishes to the customers (Smart, 2014).

According to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, nutritional content is referred to the presence or lack of nutrients such as calcium. The code assures that the food must contain the ingredients and nutrient to a basic level, which is known as the quantifying criteria. In addition to meeting the nutritional requirements, it is also required to serve healthy dishes based on energy, fiber, vegetable, protein and others. Further research has focused that only 40% of the food items were prepared by adhering to the specific criteria (Talwar, 2018).

For instance, a dish of Chipotle Pulled Pork Wrap from the salad chain was found to be low in energy and salt content, although they claimed to include four times more the permitted content of sodium and energy in 100 gm. In this respect, another instance of the Green Tea Mango Mantra from the juice chain was taken into account. The juice is assumed to contain immunity- enhancing quality although they have not succeeded in meeting the requirements. They did not contain 68- 91 gm of sugar in a single serving, which accounted to 17- 23 teaspoons (Taylor, 2015).

Conclusion

It can be briefly summarized from the demand of fast food in Australia and the entire world, that people have considered it as an easy option due to the price and availability. The surveys and data have shed light on the fact that the market of fast food is increasing rapidly in Australia and other places by leaving behind prominent sectors of the industry. The rising popularity of fast food services has led to the employment opportunity and market penetration by new eateries. The negative impacts of fast food consumption were discussed in this report and the alternative strategies were proposed. The mention of the codes and criteria provided a firm base to the findings about the fast food services. The dominant trends in the market were outlined to make the topic more useful.

Negative Impacts of Fast Food Consumption

References

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