Profits soar for Macau restaurants

Macau restaurants nearly doubled their profits last year, according to a Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) survey, while Chinese outlets saw a rise of more than 200 per cent in gross surplus.

Gross surplus grew by 96 per cent year on year for restaurants and similar establishments to MOP258 million (US$32 million), the survey shows.

Excluded from the study were restaurants and food outlets run by hotels and gaming establishments, as well as street-hawker stalls.

There was a 6.5 per cent increase in the total amount of receipts collected to MOP10.6 billion, with expenses climbing 5.2 per cent year on year to MOP10.4 billion.

The sector’s expenses included a 2.1 rise in purchase of goods, representing 36.8 per cent of the total, at MOP3.8 billion. Employee salaries increased 9.8 per cent to reach MOP3.7 billion.

On the other hand, rents eased by 0.5 per cent but were still the major cost of running restaurants at MOP1.1 billion. Electricity costs and materials were the second- and third-largest expenses for F&B establishments, both increasing. Electricity costs were up 7.1 per cent to MOP362 million while materials cost 0.6 per cent more to reach MOP236 million.

The survey also shows the sector contributed 13 per cent more to the local economy (gross value added) with a total of MOP4 billion. This is despite there being 20 fewer dining outlets than the previous year – the first decline since 2012 – taking the total to 2189.

However, the number of people working in the industry rose by 101 to reach 32,260 at the end of last year.
About 2265 cooked-food stalls in municipal markets were registered last year, with 32,398 workers. Macau had 598 Chinese restaurants, bringing in 42.3 per cent of total receipts last year.

In all, Chinese restaurants registered 9.2 per cent more in receipts last year than in the previous 12 months, reaching MOP4.5 billion, with gross surplus rocketing 218 per cent to MOP105 million.