Alcoholic and Non-alcoholic Trends in Hospitality - Essay Example

? xxxxx No. 12345 GASTRONOMY HOS205 Beverages: Alcoholic and Non-alcoholic Trends and Patterns in Hospitality ABC William Blue College Department of Hospitality Management 03 December, 2011 Table of Contents Contents Page No Introduction 03 Beverages: Alcoholic and Non-alcoholic Trends in Hospitality 03 Hospitality Operations 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction The impact of tourism in many parts of the world has been considered as positive effects because it contains an idea of incessant development and modernism. In recent years, Australia and many other countries have felt tremendous positive outcomes through tourism industry. On the basis of long research through various strategies and methods, many researchers have predicted the new dimensions of gastronomic tourism and its importance in hospitality. Restaurants and hotels are the hub of gastronomy which consists of cooking, food management, culture, gastronomic skills of people, and high quality products. Although hospitality is often criticized for being its dependency on food, drink, and gastronomy, but there is no doubt that these three factors are given a lot credit for the success or failure of this industry. Gastronomy is even more powerful element which attracts the visitors to visit a certain location. Like other fields, the hospitality is also facing the challenges of globalization especially in respect of gastronomic tourism and it is not less than a challenge to respond to globalization and constant change of demand (Richards & Hjalager 2001). On one hand, it promotes the outlets for traditional and non-traditional foods on global scale while on the other side it also motivates the tourists to get a gastronomic experience of a particular region. It also facilitates the multilateral business deals and financial agreements. This paper primarily deals with the concept of gastronomy along with the development of food and beverages destinations among hospitality operators. The paper mainly focuses the trends in Australia, Europe, North America, and few places of Asia. Beverages: Alcoholic and Non-alcoholic Trends and Patterns in Hospitality The Ancient Greek word ‘gastronomy’ is literally referred to laws of regulating the stomach. Gastronomy is the art of eating and its covers a vast horizon including study of food and cooking culture. Sciences related to food, nutrition facts, and cooking techniques also lies in the field of gastronomy (Merriam-Webster). Introducing the innovative tastes, research on cooking and food, and understanding the preparation of food are also elements of gastronomy. Further the biological and chemical knowledge regarding the food is called gastronomy. The concept or theory of hospitality is originated from the norms and customs of ancient people to deal with a friend, guest, stranger, or a traveler with an amiable, affectionate, and a kind response. Even a poor and old couple used to receive the strangers with great warmth. With the passage of time, the objective of hospitality changed and in turned out to earn money. Thus, in modern era, hospitality grew as an industry. Since careful and successful market segmentation is very much supportive for a successful hospitality management and the marketers who understand the need and trends of the market, consumer behavior and demographic features of the area of operations certainly come on the track of success. Food industry is one of the largest industries in the world as it had sale revenue of about $3.2 trillion in 2004 (US Food Industry Overview, 2006). In USA almost 16.5 million people are professionally associated with food industry and Americans spend about $1 trillion annually which is about 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). UK fast food is the largest fast food market in Europe which is double and triple in size than Germany and French markets respectively. The food industry (including fast food) had an estimated gross value added of ?73.4 billions in 2007 (http://www.whatmattersweblog.com). It had a contribution of 18.8% of national part-time employment and 8.7% of national full time employment. In terms of catering and hospitality, the burger sector is leading that had revenue of ?9.33 billion in 2008. By including the business of coffee shops and beverages, the revenue would reach ?11.22 billion, greater than 4.4% of the year 2007. About 13% of UK population is related with food and beverages industry (http://www.focusgraduates.co.uk). In Australia, the wine filed of beverages industry did a business around AU$2.5 billion in 2005, beer around AU$5.2 billion and in terms of spirit hit around AU$1.8 billion (Foster’s Group strategy briefing, September 2005). One of the major components of non-alcoholic beverages is coffee which approximately has share of about AU$645 million in Australia while it deals a business of about $50 billion on global scale (Australian Coffee Traders Association, 2009). Food tourism can be considered as a concurrent or triple point in terms of history, innovative ideas, and taste. In the background of hospitality industry in Australia, it is obvious that history of a hotel’s brand performs a critical role in the future success of the same brand. Food tourism also involves marketing and differentiation of the products. This industry is dependent on number of factors like government regulations regarding hygiene standards and suitability, new innovative brands and trends in the market, consumer behavior, and cultural and religious beliefs. In Australia, the alcohol beverages industry works under number of official regulations like RSA, ATO, as well as local government laws with respect to health and environmental sustainability. Consumer behavior is the core factor of market shifts and in recent years the alcopops and pre-mixed shots have gained wide-range popularity among the young generation. In religious context, the alcohol and its consumption has no place in some cultures and communities e.g. in Islamic countries and Hindu and Sikhism. Some Christian groups also do not accept the utilization of alcohol. However, despite of these external threats, the alcohol beverages have been progressed in 2010 as its consumption reached about 2.8 billion liters. Cider came out as the fastest growing brand with 30% increase in consumption as compared to 2009. Wine experienced a slow growth i.e. just 1% increase of its preceding year consumption because the wine market reached a saturation point (Alcoholic Drinks in Australia, 2011). The following chart reveals a substantial changes and trends over the past 50 years in terms of different alcoholic brands. The consumption of beer has decreased from 76% to 43% while the use of wine has been increased from 12% 37%. The consumption of spirit has also progressed since 1960 i.e. 12% to 19%. (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009-10) Many contemporary researchers have tried to identify the relationship between food and culture and recognized that it has a strong reflection on national identity as food is a part of human survival (Kleinfelder, 2004). Several researchers have figured out that gastronomic tourism can essentially express the cultural affects between the global communities. Asian countries unveil some interesting cultural facts. In Taiwan, the gastronomic tourism has been changed from traditional cuisine. The trend of national cuisine and ethnic food has been reinstated. There is a strong correlation between food and culture in a Philippine society. Since the Philippine society is under developing stage through urbanization and industrialization, therefore, number of social norms like housing, transportation, clothing, and cooking are affected by these changes. Over the years, a concept has been built up among the Philippine people that besides preserving the conventional cooking styles, a strong relationship can be established by learning modern gastronomy from the other nations. In contrast, the food and staples are similar between Japanese and Koreans. The migration event enabled the two nations to understand the national identities and to embrace the cultural differences and thus the relationship between the nations improved. In the field of food, both the nations promoted much improved understandings with a slight impression on gastronomy and hospitality management (Kim, 2002). Thus, it is clear that gastronomic tourism has a strong affiliation with cultural values and cannot be overlooked in hospitality management at all. In context of globalization, the standing of cultural and social values along with its impact on individual life is altered. For example, the changes in local and global cuisine, gastronomic tourism, and hospitality management can be described by the effect of McDonalds (Ritzer, 1995) Australian is presently enjoying a dynamic non-alcohol beverage market that is very much rich as it has the services of multi-plant companies which offer innovative and growing products for local and global markets. This type of industry is quite beneficial for both financial and social levels because of its wide range beverage products to meet the general health and social requirements. The ever-changing Australian industry provides traditional carbonated soft drinks, juices, coffees, tea, and milk-based drinks with diversified varieties. The last three have come out as of prime importance for general public during recent years. As far as consumption of non-alcoholic beverages are concerned, coffee, tea and drinks are the predominant beverages of hospitality industry. Coffee has established a strong standing in hospitality industry in last 10 years. In Australia espresso, cappuccino, and caffe latte has replaced the brewed filter coffee and therefore set a cafe style coffee. Because of having a major contribution (almost 61%) with respect to both the revenue and volume in market, the carbonated beverages are the mainstay of the industry as shown by the figure below. Beverages Industry (Source: http://www.australianbeverages.org/) Australian citizens prefer milk-based coffee as about 90% of coffee cups sold in 2005 contained milk in it. In recent years, cappuccino has come out as the most favorite brand of coffee for Australian people however, people having strong financial assets particularly young ladies have more inclination towards the caffes lattes. Espresso and the flat white are generally more demanded by young males and senior citizens respectively. Another significant trend in coffee industry is the cafe preference of customers with respect to either fair trading or sustainable source. A rising trend has been observed by the farmers that they intended to approach the fair trading cafes instead of low pricing cafes (Bacon, 2005). In the context of hospitality management, Australia is dependent on several countries to import the tea from China, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Malaysia. There is a similarity in distribution of tea with coffee that both products involve product extensions and a huge list of distribution points. As far as differences are concerned tea is more ceremonial than coffee and it has no significant conflicts with cultural and religious backgrounds. Rather tea has more cultural norms than coffee as a huge part of Australian population is fond of afternoon tea or arranges a tea party on weekends. Hospitality industry is incomplete without the contribution of soft drinks which include water-based carbonated drinks. Horton (2008) estimated that in the area of soft drinks, revenue of Australian beverage industry could touch about $481 billion in 2010. The contribution of this gastronomic component has increased in hospitality industry as more than 10000 new products have been introduced during 2004 to 2007 (Horton, 2008). Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Cadbury Schweppes are the market leaders. In United States it has been observed that young generation has the increasing tendency towards non-alcoholic beverages. In 2006, bottled water had a share of about 14.4% while fruit beverages had a share of 7% of total beverage revenue (Beverage Marketing Corporation, 2007). Trends in utilization of milk-based drinks is also substantially increasing on global scale as there was a consumption of about 242 billion liters in 2007, 13% higher than consumption of 214 billion liters in 2002 (Zenith International, Global Milk Drinks, 2008). In Australia, the individual consumption has increased to 22.9 liters per head in 2007 which was 18.3 liters per head in 2002. Middle East is the leading market in terms of milk-based beverages as it meets 8.5% of global demand. Uncertainty of prices, local and international consolidations, and free paid impediments are the leading external factors for milk-based beverages. Presently, just 7% of milk is imported or exported on global scale. In 2007, Asia and Australia consumed 35% milk of the world while Western Europe 16.5% and Central America consumed 13%. The markets of United States of America did highest business of $1.6 billion in 2007 from milk-based beverages. It is estimated that global milk consumption will be increased by 19% till 2012. Hospitality Operations Although history provides a guideline for future, however hospitality industry by default cannot depend a lot only on previous trends as consumer behavior and other depending factors can substantially shift the trends and markets (Denny & O’Fallon, 2007). The growth and economy of hospitality industry is somewhat affected by the internal and external opportunities and risks. These opportunities and threats related to hospitality business are reviewed to vary the consumer markets (Goek, 2007). For example the growth and entry of a hospitality company to a market where market capitalization id of course quite attractive, however, the limitation for new entrant is the presence competitive environment with the dominant rivalries. Thus in hospitality operations, when a firm implement its expanding strategy, it can face more loss due to strong challenges in market starting from entering into market to the operational level. Hunger, taste and customer satisfaction are the measuring tools of food. There are number of theories which can be applied to manage hospitality business or to grow up this industry in coordination with gastronomic tourism. The most important factor with respect to food, somewhat in all cultures, is its taste. It is actually the taste which promotes the good habits of drinking, eating, table manners, and related aspects of life. By default, the nature and financial turnover of hospitality industry realize additional factors. Within tourism food and hospitality management, the gastronomy is affected by various elements like religion, culture, globalization, and leverages with respect to financial crisis and competition. Since food and drinks are obligatory to ecosystem, therefore, it needs to be made stronger. Strengthening of hospitality offers more employment opportunities in the society and in turn produce extra amount of revenue to create stability in the economy of state. Bibliography Alcoholic Drinks in Australia (April, 2011). Available at http://www.euromonitor.com/alcoholic-drinks-in-australia/report Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010). Apparent Consumption of Alcohol, Australia, 2009-10, Retrieved by http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/ Beverage Marketing Corporation (2007). Focus Report, Next Generation Carbonated Soft Drinks in the US BIS Shrapnel report entitled ‘Coffee in Australia (2006–2008)’; Available at Denny, G. and O’Fallon, M. (2007) Hotel Management Operations (4th Ed). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Food Manufacturing Overview, Focus Graduates, http://www.focusgraduates.co.uk/help-and-advice/food-manufacturing Foster’s Group strategy briefing (Sp, 2005), Hilton, Sydney Geok, W.B., (2007) Hospitality Industry in Asia – Selected Case Studies, The Asian Business Case Centre. Avaialble at [Accessed 29 October 2010] Horton, N. (2008) Next Generation Soft Drinks: Innovation in natural, functional and premium beverages. Business Insights Ltd. Kim, T., (2002). Identity Politics and Korean Youth in Japan: A Case Study of a Junior High School Student, International Education Journal, http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/v3n5/5kim/paper.pdf Kleinfelder, P.M., (2004) American Influence on Filipino Food Culture http://www.diplomarbeiten24.de/vorschau/47335.html [Accessed 29 October 2010]. Richards, G. and Hjalager, A.M. (2001) Tourism and Gastronomy. 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