Restaurant market growth is expected to slow to 1.4 percent in 2027, compared with 2.0 percent in 2026. This is according to industry organization Visita’s restaurant forecast.
According to Visita, the weaker development is due, among other things, to the difference in VAT between food served in restaurants and groceries, as well as expected interest rate hikes and inflation when temporary fiscal stimulus measures expire.
Lunch and dinner restaurants have still not recovered their sales volumes after the pandemic and are expected to be particularly hard hit by the VAT difference.
– Fiscal policy is undermining the recovery of lunch and dinner restaurants and unfortunately this will continue next year, says Visita’s chief economist Thomas Jakobsson.
For 2028, Visita expects restaurant market growth to recover to 2.0 percent.
