Number of operating cafés and restaurants Australia FY 2017-2023

Australia's café and restaurant landscape has shown relatively consistent growth in recent years, with over 54,000 cafés and restaurants in operation across the country at the end of the 2023 financial year, up from approximately 41,570 in 2017. Nonetheless, the number of businesses peaked in 2022 at just over 54,400. 

Australia's coffee shop network

Not only has the number of cafés and restaurants trended upwards nationwide in recent years, the annual revenue of these venues reached a new peak in 2023. The states of New South Wales and Victoria are home to the majority of Australia's food service establishments, owing to their higher population densities. International café chains such as McCafé and Jack's Café alongside domestic coffee franchise The Coffee Club boast the highest number of locations across popular coffee shops in Australia. Still, they rank below cafés like Donut King, Zaraffa's, and Gloria Jean's in terms of overall customer satisfaction. 

Australia's most beloved beverage

Coffee is deeply rooted in the everyday lives of Australians, with the hot beverage coming in as the country's most regularly consumed beverage in a 2024 survey. Several Australians consume the beverage every day or in some cases multiple times a day, and the annual domestic consumption of coffee has remained above two million sixty-kilogram bags for the past four years. In particular, cappuccinos and lattes enjoy a high popularity among Australians. Nonetheless, although the country observes high coffee consumption levels, cost-of-living pressures have led to a desire to reduce spending on takeout coffee and the rising intention to consume coffee at home instead of in cafés.