The Hungarian capital of Budapest is home to a fusion of home-grown concepts and big names from the international eating and drinking-out market. James Hacon, of Elliotts, reports on the new concepts and innovations at play within the city’s bustling hospitality scene.

Late last month, the city of Budapest played host to the wider Elliotts team, while visiting on our yearly overseas study tour, where we aim to seek out new concepts and innovations.

For those that have not been, your first thoughts of the city might well be of British stag weekends. While this is certainly part of the consumer mix, it is not the driving force. An eclectic mix of international tourists and urban-dwelling Hungarians has created a competitive hospitality scene.

At first glance, the city looks like it is heavily dominated by independents with a smattering of international brands, with the British coffee brands having a fair share of this market. It’s not until you talk to the business owners that you start to understand the complexity to the market.

This is a market that has only started to see the impact of western culture in the past 25 years. Within this time, the country has had its love affair with the big American takeaway brands and has matured to a point where there is a respect and love for their own food culture again. On this basis you’ve seeing an array of home-grown concepts, many taking inspiration from overseas, while some stay traditional.

Small multi-site operators have developed in recent years while the international franchises seem to be owned by a small number of big players.

The home-grown brand revolution has sparked real innovation in interior design and branding, perhaps leaving behind the food and drink offer. Turn almost any street corner and you come across another distinctly designed outlet, whether it be a cool coffee shop, upbeat food-to-go outlet or hip late-night venue.

While many stood out, none impacted the senses quite like Szimpla Kert, listed third by Lonely Planet, as one of its great bars of the world. The most famous of the so called ‘Ruined Pubs’ the city has become renowned for, the concept behind these outlets is to create a venue from old factory buildings or tenement houses and furnish with rejected furniture of old community centres, cinemas or residences, bringing together a retro feel into the design.

The beauty of these spaces is that there are no rules and no specified design, each one telling its own unique story through its style and atmosphere. I was particularly impressed at the thought put into creating a theatrical reveal of each new space through interesting layouts.

While design stood out, service was generally abrupt and functional, and marketing was seen by the majority of owners as an unnecessary expense – the belief being that their concept did the job for them. An odd philosophy considering how daytime trading seemed light across the city and so few were encouraging local patronage. It seems the tourist ruled for the most part.

To most operators I spoke to, marketing was a narrow concept with PoS, leafleting, website and social media being the staple, if at all. Most surprisingly for me was the lack of direct marketing or any concentration on loyalty. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram seemed to be used religiously across the board, it seemed that it was more through feeling it had to be done, than providing any benefit.

In stark contrast, the importance of TripAdvisor to these operators could not be stressed more, with such a focus on visitor expenditure, we were hearing of operators checking the site almost hourly, with the majority responding to all reviews and taking the impact of the site very seriously. Balanced with this was a real ambition to be featured in guidebooks, something that could clearly make you as a restaurateur or bar owner in Budapest.

James Hacon is the managing of Elliotts, leading marketing, insight and PR agency for the sector. The company’s Budapest white paper will be available towards the end of this month