Australia

Extensive flooding over late 2022, following heavy rains in crucial growing regions across New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, has impacted food supplies, leading to supply fluctuations due to major damage to harvests, and…

Sugar is struggling in 2023, due to a combined series of factors. To start with, prices have been steadily rising in sugar. Global supplies have been seeing a reduced output from the UK and Europe, as sugar beet crops have been impacted by extreme…

Rising costs across various fronts—labour, transportation, weather-related challenges, and raw materials—have significantly influenced prices of vegetables in 2022 and 2023. Adverse weather conditions have also impacted the supply of fresh produce…

In 2022, several major trends were significantly impacting the packaging landscape in Australia, reflecting the growing emphasis on sustainability, waste reduction and eco-conscious choices. One key trend is the increasing importance of…

The cost-of-living crisis has constrained how much consumers are able to spend on goods and services, with many of them forced to cut dining out from their budgets. This has been challenging for cafés in particular, as it has resulted in reduced…

The recent rises in inflation and the general cost of living are responsible for reducing how much time many consumers are spending at retail stores. Without high disposable incomes to spend, there is not much incentive for consumers to visit retail…

The rapid growth of inflation and the general cost of living have been major obstacles for growth of consumer foodservice in Australia. Local consumers have been forced to limit their budgets because of the rising cost of essential goods and…

The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns resulted in many changes in consumer habits, the impacts of which are still being felt throughout the consumer foodservice industry. One of these changes has been the increase in the number of consumers dining…

The growing cost of living has been a major discussion point across all industries in Australia, as consumer spending has been significantly impacted due to constraints on discretionary income. As a result, limited-service restaurants struggled to…

Ikea Restaurant remained the only chained self-service cafeteria operating in Australia in 2023, with 10 outlets throughout the country. With only 13 independent self-service cafeterias in operation in Australia, it is unsurprising to see Ikea…