The booking platform has analysed two years’ worth of British dining data on its 3.8 million database of British diners to compile its Quarterly Dining Trends report.
Looking at the most popular cuisines in the UK, the findings reveal that British cuisine has enjoyed a surge in popularity in the last year, now accounting for 27 per cent of all Bookatable’s bookings – up from 12 per cent of all bookings in 2014-15.
Joe Steele, CEO of Bookatable, commented: “There’s no doubt, Modern British cuisine is proving incredibly popular right now as the standards in British gastronomy continue to flourish. We also have some really fantastic destination restaurants on the Bookatable platform serving up a contemporary take on British cuisine which are well worth sampling.
“With the rise in tablet and smart phone usage, it’s now even easier to book on the move so it’s no surprise we are identifying a move towards shorter notice bookings. Consumers still want to know they don’t have to queue for a table and be secure in the knowledge they have a reservation, but are making more spontaneous decisions on the go.”
Whilst British cuisine continues to rise in popularity having knocked Italian off the top spot in 2013-14 and enjoying a boom in bookings in 2015-16, Brits clearly have a healthy appetite for international cuisine with Japanese, Italian and Chinese all consistently in the top ten.
The British appetite for dining out continues to grow with Bookatable reporting a bookings increase of 103 per cent between 2014 and 2016. Fine dining has grown by 71 per cent during the same period, with casual dining / chain restaurants and independent restaurants seeing a 125 per cent and 133 per cent growth in bookings, respectively.
Saturday night continues to be the most popular night to dine taking a quarter of the bookings, with Friday night closely behind at 18 per cent. And whilst Brits may not be known for dining out as late as those on the continent, the most popular time to dine is a respectable 7pm to 8pm (23 per cent) with 17 per cent of bookings after 8pm.
When it comes to booking behaviour, Bookatable has identified a trend shift towards shorter notice bookings. In 2014-15, 24 per cent of bookings were made within 24 hours or less of dining and 35 per cent of bookings were made four weeks or longer in advance. However, in 2015-16, 31 per cent of bookings are made within 24 hours or less of dining and 29 per cent are made four weeks or longer in advance.