Recessionary habits are back in the British market
Restaurants in the UK are expected to see sales dropping as home-cooked meal trend is back among British consumers. Due to a drop in consumer's confidence, eating out is not as popular as it was a couple of years ago. Instead, families are more likely to stay at home and eat together on different occasions.
"Cutting back on spend often means cutting back on eating out. This year we’ve seen an additional 1.2bn meals eaten in the home or carried out, across breakfast, lunch and dinner. Where we might have spent an evening out at the cinema or restaurant, we’re now more likely to be staying in with Netflix and a takeaway, consuming 37m more takeaways than last year.
Meal preparation is also changing. This year, we’ve seen over half a billion more meals being prepared from scratch, compared with 2017, driven by health and cost concerns. This is an increase of 8%, driven by families who are sitting down to eat together more than in previous years. Batch cooking has also increased in popularity, with Italian, Oriental, Mexican and Indian dishes driving growth. These dishes are helping to boost beef mince and chicken performance but other proteins and cuts typically feature less heavily.
As people look to cut back on discretionary spend, eating out at lunch has suffered, with more people packing a lunchbox instead. Much batch cooking ends up in lunchboxes – 163 million of which now feature something savoury made on another day, up 13% on last year," said the latest retail and consumer insight from AHDB.
On the other hand, meals perceived as a treat are expected to favor meats such as lamb or pork, which are valued for their taste and sometimes seen as a treat. "Meals chosen because they’re a treat or reward have grown by 2.5% year-on-year while those chosen for taste are up by 1.4%", shows the report.
Consumption habits will change only if the economy recovers fast in the next period, otherwise " we could see an amplification of current trends. In the 2008 recession, we saw an additional 2bn meals eaten in the home – currently, that’s at 1.2bn so there’s plenty of room for growth. Snack foods and small treats will continue to do well, while healthy options may be left on the supermarket shelf".
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