HoReCa in 2026: What Has Changed
The on-trade market is recovering faster than anticipated. In major cities, the number of active HoReCa venues has already exceeded pre-disruption levels in several segments. The number of new bars and cafΓ©s in key European cities grew 23% in 2025.
For FMCG manufacturers this means one thing: the HoReCa channel is critical again β and competition for menu positions intensifies daily. Yet most brands still manage the HoReCa channel the old way: a trade agent visits venues once a month, records what's on the menu, and brings back a report in Excel.
By the time your agent visits a venue, a competitor has already dropped their price. By the time you prepare your report, a new bar has opened and signed three competitors. You receive data with a lag of 2 weeks to a month β and make decisions based on yesterday's reality.
Where Brands Win: 4 Winning Strategies
1. Speed of Reaction to Price Changes
One of the biggest challenges in HoReCa is price dumping. A competitor cuts prices across 15 venues in a chain β and you find out next month. By then your brand is already "expensive" in the minds of bartenders and buyers.
β average reaction time to competitor dumping without a system
With PICSELL Radar β 2 minutes. An alert arrives when the system detects a material price gap between your brand and competitors in the same venues.
2. Lead Generation: Who Finds New Venues First
According to our platform data, 47% of new HoReCa venues sign with the first supplier to offer a partnership. The one who arrives first wins. Everyone else shares the remainder.
Winning brands systematically monitor new venue openings via Google Maps API and reach new bars and restaurants in their first month of operation.
3. Monitoring Contract Compliance
A typical HoReCa contract specifies: your brand on the menu, a minimum sale price, category exclusivity. But who checks compliance? In most companies β no one. Or an agent once a quarter.
4. Cocktail Analytics: Brands That Know Where They Are Being Used
The most progressive spirits brands already analyse which cocktails feature their product and where those cocktails are trending. This unlocks a unique advantage: instead of "put us on the menu" β "here is the cocktail trending in bars like yours right now, and here's exactly why our brand fits".
Where Brands Lose: 3 Systemic Mistakes
Mistake #1: Relying Solely on Field Agents
A field agent physically cannot monitor 200+ venues weekly. He visits each venue once a month at best. In a month, the venue may have changed its menu, head chef, concept and owner.
Agents β for negotiation and personal relationships. Automated system β for monitoring between visits. Together they deliver full channel coverage without adding headcount.
Mistake #2: Not Measuring Real HoReCa Market Share
When we ask Brand Managers "what is your market share in HoReCa?" β the answer is usually either "we don't know exactly" or "figures from syndicated research" three months old. But syndicated data costs tens of thousands of dollars and gives no breakdown by individual venue or city district.
Mistake #3: Ignoring New Venue Formats
Coffee shops, coworking cafΓ©s, food courts in business centres, dark kitchens β all of these formats are growing fast and are traditionally "invisible" to distributors using a classic HoReCa approach. Yet the number of such venues in major cities more than doubled in 2024β2025.
Real Data: What We See Across PICSELL Clients
18% β average monthly lead growth for clients with active Google Maps Lead Intelligence.
42% β average category market share in venues with an active contract (vs 28% in venues without monitoring).
Practical Plan: How to Restructure Your HoReCa Approach
Step 1: Understand Your Real Venue Base
First, an audit. How many venues are in your database? When was it last updated? How many venues opened in the past year that you don't have? Run Google Maps Intelligence β the results will surprise you.
Step 2: Automate Monitoring Between Visits
Define the KPIs you want to track: menu presence, price, position. Set up automatic data collection for these metrics. Agents no longer need to spend time "copying the menu" β the system does it automatically.
Step 3: Focus Agents on Leads and Negotiation
Redirect agents' time freed from routine monitoring toward visiting new venues and negotiating expanded presence. This is what the system cannot do instead of a person β but the person should be doing only this.
The HoReCa channel in 2026 is an opportunity for those who build systems, and a threat for those who rely on monthly Excel reports. The difference between them is not budget β it's approach.