HoReCa (Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes) is the food service channel: the businesses that cook or serve food and beverages for people to have on the spot. The “Ca” is also read as Catering, and most companies use the word to cover both cafes and caterers. In the trade you will also hear it called the HoReCa sector or HoReCa industry: the food and drink side of the hospitality industry.
In business, HoReCa means a sales channel of its own. For a brand that sells food, drinks or supplies, it sits next to general trade (small independent shops) and modern trade (supermarkets and chains). Its buyers are chefs, owners and purchase managers, who buy bulk packs for their kitchens and bars.
HoReCa meaning and full form
The full form of HoReCa is Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes (or Catering). The word joins the first two letters of each part of the trade:
| Letters | Stands for | Typical outlets | What they buy from brands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ho | Hotels | Hotels, resorts, serviced apartments, banquet halls | Breakfast and buffet foods, beverages, room supplies, cleaning products |
| Re | Restaurants | Fine dining, casual dining, quick-service restaurants, food courts | Ingredients, sauces, oils, dairy, frozen foods, soft drinks |
| Ca | Cafes or catering | Coffee shops, bakeries, dessert bars, caterers, event kitchens | Coffee, tea, milk, syrups, baked goods, disposables |
The term comes from Dutch, where “horeca” is an everyday word for the hotel, restaurant and cafe trade. Suppliers to HoReCa businesses now use it across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. In North America, people more often say “food service” or “foodservice”. The UN’s ISIC classification files the same businesses under “accommodation and food service activities”.
HoReCa, HORECA, Horeca, Ho.Re.Ca and ho re ca all have the same meaning, and most people say it HO-reh-ka.
What counts as a HoReCa outlet
Any business that serves food and drink for people to have on its premises, or at an event it runs, counts as a HoReCa business:
- Hotels and resorts, including their restaurants, bars, buffets and banquet halls
- Restaurants of every kind: fine dining, casual dining, quick-service chains and food courts
- Cafes, coffee shops and bakeries that serve on site
- Bars, pubs and lounges
- Caterers for weddings, parties and company events
- Institutional catering, which some companies include: office canteens, hospitals, schools and airlines
The edges vary: many companies count cloud kitchens, and drinks companies often give bars to a separate on-trade team. Agree which outlets count before you set targets.
HoReCa vs food service, on-trade, away-from-home and HRI
- Food service (foodservice): the wider industry of making meals outside the home. It is the usual word in North America and always counts institutional catering, which HoReCa only sometimes does.
- Away-from-home (AFH) or out-of-home (OOH): anything people eat, drink or use outside their homes. It is wider, and can include gyms, transport and vending.
- On-trade and off-trade: drinks terms. On-trade is where a drink is bought and drunk on the premises, so it overlaps heavily with HoReCa; off-trade is shops.
- HRI: Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional, a North American term that names institutions such as hospitals and schools outright.
- Hospitality: the wider service industry of travel, lodging and leisure. HoReCa is its food and beverage part.
What is HoReCa sales, and how is the HoReCa channel different from retail?
HoReCa sales means selling your products to hotels, restaurants, cafes and caterers, which use them to make what they serve. In a shop, your product is resold as it is. In a kitchen, it becomes an ingredient, and the buyer judges it on taste, yield, consistency and cost per plate.
| HoReCa | General trade | Modern trade | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who decides | Chef, owner, or a chain’s central purchasing team | Shop owner | Category buyer at head office |
| Pack size | Bulk and catering packs, kegs, large tins | Consumer packs | Consumer packs |
| How they order | Small, frequent top-ups driven by menus and how busy they are | On the rep’s visit or by phone | On a schedule set by head office |
| Credit | On credit, often through a distributor | Cash or short credit | Longer contract terms |
| How goods reach them | Distributors, food service wholesalers, cash and carry, or direct to chains | Distributors and wholesalers | The retailer’s own warehouse |
| What wins the account | A place on the menu, steady supply, chef support | Margin, trade offers, credit | Listing terms, promotions, shelf space |
If you know general trade and modern trade, a few things about HoReCa will feel new:
- The menu is the shelf. Once your sauce, cheese or coffee is part of a signature dish, the outlet keeps reordering it and rarely switches. Losing the menu slot is how you lose the account.
- The person who chooses is often not the person who pays. The chef picks the ingredient, the owner or purchase manager agrees the price, and the accounts team pays the bill. Reps need to know all three.
- Chains and independents buy in different ways. A chain decides once, at head office, and every branch follows a set list. An independent cafe decides at the counter, and a new chef can change the order overnight.
- Running out costs more than in retail. A shop with no stock loses one sale. A cafe with no coffee beans buys from whoever can deliver today, and may never switch back.
The rep wins the account, the distributor holds the data
Most HoReCa outlets are served through a distributor or food service wholesaler. The brand’s rep opens the account and keeps the chef happy, but the distributor delivers, bills and collects. So the order a rep books is only part of the story. Outlets often top up by phone between visits, and unless the distributor shares that data, the brand never sees those orders.
Food maker Cremica, which sells through both retail and HoReCa, named limited visibility into field operations across the two channels as a key issue. With BeatRoute’s field sales app, it raised sales productivity per rep by 30%. Read the Cremica case study.
The rule that follows: judge a HoReCa account on what the outlet bought through its distributor, and treat the rep’s bookings as a cross-check. That needs the distributor’s outlet sales and dues beside the rep’s visits, which a distributor management system gives you.
How to run a HoReCa sales team
HoReCa reps usually see fewer outlets a day than a retail beat team and stay longer at each. HoReCa sales on BeatRoute shows how the app supports each step.
1. Segment outlets before you assign them
Group outlets by type, cuisine and how much they could buy: a brand that sells Asian sauces gains little from a steakhouse, however busy it is. Customer profiling and segmentation tells reps where to spend their time.
2. Split key accounts from independent outlets
Chains, hotel groups and large caterers are won at head office, so give these HoReCa accounts a key account manager, and have field reps check that each branch orders what was agreed. Independent restaurants and cafes are won one at a time by a rep who knows the chef by name.
3. Set visit frequency by value and risk
See high-value accounts most often, along with any outlet that has an open problem: a falling order, an overdue payment or a new chef. Small outlets that reorder steadily can top up between visits through a B2B ordering app. Visit planning software builds each rep’s week around these rules, so reps do not drift towards the friendliest outlets.
4. Plan sampling, chef demos and menu activations
A chef demo wins a menu listing only when the rep follows it up. Book demos against your target outlets, send the rep back within days, and check that any dish of the month ran.
5. Track the numbers that show HoReCa health
- Active outlets: outlets that ordered in the last month, by segment
- Menu listings: outlets where your product is part of a dish or drink on the menu
- Lines per outlet: how many of your products each outlet buys
- Reorder rate: how many outlets came back after a first order or a demo
- Outlet sales and collections through distributors: what each outlet bought and what it still owes
Request a demo built around your outlet types and distributor setup.
Frequently asked questions
Is HoReCa B2B or B2C?
Both. Suppliers sell to hotels, restaurants and cafes business to business (B2B), and those outlets sell meals and drinks to guests business to consumer (B2C). HoReCa sales usually means the B2B side.
What is HoReCa in FMCG?
In FMCG, HoReCa is the channel where brands sell food, drinks and supplies to hotels, restaurants, cafes and caterers. They sell in bulk packs, often through distributors, alongside general trade and modern trade.
What are HoReCa products?
Products made for food service use, usually in bulk packaging. Beyond the foods in the table above, that means alcohol, disposables, cleaning supplies, linen and kitchen equipment.
What does a HoReCa sales executive do on a visit?
Besides the order, the rep checks which menu items use your products and asks the chef for feedback. They also follow up on samples, confirm the distributor has stock, and collect payment where the brand bills directly.
What is HoReCa marketing?
It is marketing aimed at the outlet rather than the shopper: branded coolers, glassware and menu cards, training for waiters and bar staff, and stands at food service trade shows.
