Italians love the Tuscan food: 60% customer

Interesting survey promoted by Fipe Concommercio Tuscany on restaurateurs Showcase Tuscany.

Per il Direttore Generale Confcommercio Toscana Franco Marinoni “la maggioranza dei ristoranti che hanno risposto all’indagine dichiara una classe di spesa tra i 20 e i 40 euro, drinks not included, and a range of customers prevalent among 30 e i 50 years. It is a network of restaurants in the tradition with special attention to the quality of the supply chain and supply of Tuscan dishes, but an offer that still managed to attract very large groups of people, no particular social distinction ".

L’indagine è stata condotta dalla struttura regionale Confcommercio per conto di Fipe Confcommercio e con il sostegno dell’Ente Bilaterale del Turismo Toscana.

"We wanted to explore the perceptions of our restaurateurs in the network Showcase Tuscany - Tuscany Region program that enhances the quality of regional productions, the short chain and local dishes - but especially to understand what are the characteristics of customers, because the food tourism is still niche, and thus leaves uncovered a wider "audience" of tourists, prefers destinations nonclassical and less busy seasons, and therefore has great potential for development ".

The food and wine market outlined in the survey is a market with strong presence of Italian customers (60%), and with the remaining 40% divided into British tourism (9%), German (8%), French (5,5%), American (4,90) and Bric (4,64).

If amazes the overwhelming prevalence of Italian, it also notes a growing focus on traditional restaurants by the foreign tourism.

Among the emerging markets (Bric) about 3% is represented by the Russians, that confirm the trend and the relevance of these countries in the regional tourism market.

Tourists and couples are the clusters of customers more present in the restaurants of respondents, while families represent a sample minority.

"Our food, appreciated all over the world - says Aldo Cursano, Regional President and Deputy National Fipe Confcommercio - and shows a particular attention to customer needs of the XXI century. It is known fact that many restaurateurs (49%) adopt marketing strategies to prearranged price - these are tasting menu or related to an event - and begins to appear more attention to new trends supply as the menu for vegetarians (31,50%) and the menu for gluten intolerance (35%). The data show the other hand a very limited presence of the families. It could be a territory to be explored, for example by offering children's menu, that the investigation is very rare ".

Foreign tourists attending Showcase Tuscany, despite the proposed default menus, however prefer the a la carte menu, confirming that the patrons of the restaurants of the network have a certain awareness in the field of food and wine, not giving in to the lure of the tourist menu.

Federico Pieragnoli, President of the Bilateral Tourism Toscano, explains: "This survey provides an insight into the needs of quality restaurants, that the Bilateral Agency is particularly relevant in its components that relate to employment and assistance to tourism businesses. An example is the strong demand for waiters who have knowledge of foreign languages, which confirms our analysis on the subject. Shows that more than 22% the sample would be useful to have within its structure a highly qualified person as the sommelier to intercept mainly American clientele that this survey is particularly attentive to the culture of wine ".

The data were presented at Showcase Tuscany Lab - Communicate the taste - organized by the Tuscany Region and Fondazione Sistema Toscana.

Michael Lattanzi

By the number 43 – The Year of 10/12/2014