New study finds wholesale basket value remains stable for hospitality wholesale orders despite 20 per cent drop in order line items since 2022
New data from wholesale order management platform Fresho reveals Australian hospitality outlets have reduced order line items by 20 per cent since 2022 while maintaining basket values, demonstrating strategic purchasing to maintain consistent supply as the sector navigates unprecedented economic pressure.
The findings, from Fresho’s 2026 Australian Fruit & Veg Report, show offline orders declining from 8.03 lines per order in 2022 to 6.66 in 2025. However, order values have remained consistent, indicating venues are buying smarter by consolidating around core products while maintaining spend levels.
The annual report combines anonymised data from A$3.7bn worth of transactions processed through the Fresho platform with insights from leading wholesalers and chefs to provide unprecedented visibility into Australia’s fruit and vegetable wholesale sector.
The insights come as 1,504 companies entered external administration across Australia as of June 2025 – a 31% jump year-on-year according to Australian Securities & Investments Commission – with the hospitality industry particularly affected.
Survey data from almost 2,500 chefs using the Fresho platform shows rising costs as the primary challenge (37 per cent), followed by staffing issues (27 per cent). Technology implementation leads cost management strategies, with 47 per cent of hospitality outlets investing in digital tools.
“The Australian hospitality industry continues working through an exceptionally challenging environment,” James Andronis, Fresho co-founder and CEO said.
Steven Biviano, director of sales & cruise supply at Select Fresh Providores, notes: “Weather extremes across multiple growing regions have made supply continuity difficult. For wholesalers it has meant tighter communication with growers and daily buying discipline.”
Wholesalers have also reshaped their operations in response to economic pressure. Morning processing hours (8am-2pm) are now the busiest block of the day, increasing from 28.85 per cent of offline orders in 2021 to 32.33 per cent in 2025, while late-night processing (8pm-2am) declined from 22.22 per cent to 20.77 per cent over the same period. This operational shift reflects wholesalers responding to labour cost pressures by concentrating activity during standard business hours. According to Fresho, Artificial Intelligence order capturing is also helping to reduce the reliance on late night manual orders.
Julian Parisi of Parisi Australia has observed a shift in ordering patterns driven by protein price increases.
“We’ve seen a major shift of clients moving their menus away from proteins into more fruit and vegetables, which is a positive because it increases our basket size,” Parisi said.
Cost pressures are also driving consolidation across the wholesale sector as larger suppliers acquire smaller operations to achieve economies of scale.
“Consolidation among suppliers is definitely happening,” Andronis said. “Larger suppliers are looking to acquire small or medium-sized ones. It all leads to economies of scale – if you can use your facility 18 hours a day instead of 12 without fixed overheads changing, you’re reducing your per-unit cost and escaping margin pressure.”
According to Fresho, wholesalers are focusing on maintaining healthy margins on fewer orders rather than chasing volume at unsustainable prices. This means monitoring costs daily, catching margin erosion in days, not months.
It also sees technology adoption accelerating as both suppliers and venues invest in efficiency tools.
“AI-powered order capture that converts voice messages, emails, and texts into orders is showing clear efficiency gains for early adopters, addressing labour-intensive manual transcription while labour costs remain elevated,” the company said.
