Flat organic revenue has primarily been driven by the reduction in like for like volume, from an increase of 1% in 2008 to a decrease of 3% in 2009. The rate of like for like volume decline evolved quickly over the year, moving from an increase of 1% in the first quarter to a decrease of 5% in the third quarter. However, the volume decline of 6% in the fourth quarter seems to indicate that the pace of decline has slowed significantly and this trend has continued into the new financial year.
We have made good progress with MAP 2 Consumer Sales and Marketing. Our ‘Core Concepts’ range of menus has been successful in bringing greater choice and consistency to the food offer, whilst targeted promotions, loyalty schemes and our value range have been growing in popularity in a cost conscious consumer environment. Innovations in technology, such as cashless payment systems and desktop ordering, are delivering the speed and convenience increasingly demanded by consumers.
We have delivered unit productivity and efficiency savings estimated at £130 million, £60 million from food cost and £70 million from unit overheads. Over the past four years, despite periods of significant food cost inflation, our focus on MAP 3 Cost of Food has enabled us to deliver a 60 basis point improvement in the gross margin, and there are still considerable opportunities to drive further improvements across all countries. Within the £1.8 billion of unit overheads, we have also started to make some real savings, but this is just the start of a journey.
We continue to make excellent progress in MAP 5 Above Unit Costs, driven mainly by streamlining back office procedures and processes. This has allowed us to redeploy resources away from administration and more towards investing in operations and growing the business. We have reduced our above unit costs by a further £31 million in the year. Our aspiration is to contain the above unit cost and perhaps even reduce it further, whilst continuing to grow the revenue.
This relates mainly to the incremental operating profit from the acquisitions of Medi-Dyn and Kimco in the USA, Plural in Germany, the remaining 50% of the shares in GR SA in Brazil and a number of McColls retail outlets in the UK.
Our core strategy is to focus on foodservice and to build on the fast growth in our support services business. Our scale within countries enables us to drive efficiencies; our global reach and capability allows us to take advantage of the significant outsourcing opportunities around the world and to serve multinational clients. Sectorisation is a fundamental part of our strategy and we have built big businesses in all of the key market sectors.
Our primary focus is organic revenue growth. Over recent years, the Group has had a consistent track record of around 6% organic revenue growth and it is envisaged that, over time, as economic conditions recover, there should be a return to this trend. The foodservice opportunity is significant, with outsource penetration rates of under 50% and our share of the total market estimated at just 7%. The soft support services market is larger and less penetrated. Combining the two suggests an available global self-operated market of well over £200 billion and we will continue to capitalise on this vast opportunity. Innovation in our consumer offer should position us to benefit from a cyclical upswing in demand and drive increased participation and spend. The roll-out of best practice in retention should result in further improvement in this area.
MAP is fundamental to driving consistent performance across the Group and the discipline it brings to the way we manage the business puts us in a strong position to meet the challenges in the year ahead.
Client sales and marketing
Consumer sales and marketing
Cost of food
Unit costs
Above unit overheads
