Press Release - January 2026

• After growing 3% in 2024, provisional data indicate that turnover by food wholesalers to the hospitality industry stood above €8.1 billion in 2025, up 2% year-over-year, thereby extending the continued slowing in growth.

• The top five companies jointly control 18% of sector revenue, a share that rises only to 27.5% when the top ten are considered, which underscores the sector's continued fragmentation.

• INFORMA's DBK Sectoral Observatory recently published these insights in the 'Food Wholesalers for Horeca' Sectoral Report.

Madrid, 29 January 2026.- According to INFORMA's (Cesce's subsidiary) DBK Sectoral Observatory, a leading provider of business, financial, sectoral, and marketing information in Spain and Portugal, turnover generated by food wholesalers to the hospitality industry reached €7.95 billion in 2024, a figure reflecting growth of 3.2% from the previous year. In 2025, this moderate growth continued, with an estimated annual increase of 2.0% and a provisional figure of €8.11 billion.

These increases reflected a slowdown compared with previous fiscal years, when double-digit rises were recorded. Thus, weaker out-of-home consumption and more moderate growth in tourism activity and prices resulted in a smaller increase in business.

Wholesalers channelled around 35% of the total value of food and drink purchases made by the hospitality industry in 2024. This percentage rose to 49% in the case of drinks and stood at 28% for food products.

Meanwhile, turnover at Cash & Carry outlets also saw slower growth from 2024, reaching €4.84 billion in that fiscal year after rising 3.5%. In 2025, provisional data point to a value of €5.0 billion, representing a 3.3% increase.

In January 2024, around 35,500 food wholesale companies were operating in Spain, considering companies that direct their sales to hospitality establishments and other channels. Most companies are small, resulting in a low degree of supply concentration. Thus, in 2024 the top five operators by turnover from sales to the hospitality channel jointly accounted for 17.7% of this business.

As for the supply of Cash & Carry outlets, at the end of 2024 it comprised around 760 outlets across the Iberian market. This business features several chains of a certain size that account for a large share of the market, resulting in notable supply concentration. In this way, the top five operators accounted for 63% of total sales in that year.

Data Synthesis