Kuwait Catering Services Market Research Report: Forecast (2022-2027)

Market Overview

Catering services are a prominent part of the hospitality sector that includes institutions, companies, and other businesses offering a blend of services like food preparation, transportation, and serving across restaurants, schools, hospitals, & cafeterias, among others.

These services are usually for outdoor events, workplaces, airlines, railways, and other sectors. Across Kuwait, the catering services industry holds great potential to display an opportunistic growth prospect in the coming years, and this owes to the following aspects:

• The government's strategic plan, Kuwait Vision 2035, for economic diversification away from oil & gas sectors, would demonstrate massive investments in the hospitality sector & lucrative opportunities for the catering industry
• Growing tourism instigating the demand for Kuwaiti food
• The rapid expansion of the aviation sector, i.e., surging the demand for in-flight catering services
• Increasing demand for catering services from corporate sectors, etc.

Besides, as most catering service contracts are for three years, they are usually retendered if the services are up to the mark. It, in turn, cites a tough competition between the leading catering service providers across the country.

Market Insights

The Kuwait Catering Services Market is projected to grow at a considerable CAGR during the forecast period, i.e., 2022-27. Most of the market expansion would be driven by the growing focus of the government of Kuwait on economic diversification away from oil & gas and developing other sectors like commercial, industrial, & hospitality. It, in turn, is demonstrating favorable policies & substantial investments into the construction of hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, cafes, and many others to offer excellent service experiences to the public. 

As a result, the need for catering services is soaring rapidly to meet the demand of the exponentially rising population and the growing influx of tourists, pilgrims, & migrants in Kuwait. Besides, the aviation sector is another industry playing a crucial role in driving the market by augmenting the demand for in-flight catering services for customers & provide them with a variety of Kuwaiti dishes & cuisine. 

Moreover, since the working population is rising gradually with minimal or no time for cooking, ordering & consuming food from office canteens & restaurants is becoming a prominent trend. It, in turn, is propelling the need for robust catering solutions across corporate offices, schools, colleges, etc., to meet the different food requirements of people. 

Furthermore, online catering services are gaining swift momentum across Kuwait and enabling consumers to order their favorite food anytime & from anywhere. These platforms allow customers to create their accounts and place orders for the future. The service provider could monitor consumer preferences to show them food options as per their preferences. As a result, the proliferating online catering services further project remunerative prospects for the overall market growth through 2027.

Key Trend in the Kuwait Catering Services Market

• Growing Popularity of Food Trucks across Kuwait

As the population of food lovers is escalating rapidly, so is the inundation of restaurants on wheels. As a result, the trending food trucks across Kuwait are promulgating the demand for catering services. This popularity owes principally to the convenience of food trucks that offer an extensive food variety on the go. Besides, growing government support through lenient licensing norms for food trucks to operate across Kuwait is another aspect contributing to the growth of the catering service industry in the country.

Impact of Covid-19 on the Kuwait Catering Services Market

The hospitality & catering sectors across Kuwait witnessed severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which led to a significant growth decline for the Catering Services Market. The lockdowns & strict movement restrictions imposed by the government resulted in the suspension of several business operations in the industry.

The leading catering service providers faced massive revenue losses due to a shortage of food supplies, delivery & production delays, & price fluctuations amidst the crisis. Yet, as people were becoming more and more health-conscious, the demand for food with high nutritional value & safe packaging notably surged and introduced an upswing to the market growth for catering services across Kuwait. 

Later, as Covid-19 cases started diminishing gradually, restrictions were uplifted & business operations got recommenced, which enabled the catering service providers to resume their usual business operations & cater to increasing end-user requirements. Moreover, in light of the pandemic, most catering service providers also adopted digital platforms to offer catering services using e-commerce websites & provide rapid door-step delivery services to their customers.