According to Eating Out-Look, a new quarterly survey of consumers and foodservice professionals from Horizons and JRA, a quarter of businesses are expecting a large increase in trade over the next 12 months, significantly higher than in 2013.
Restaurateurs are the most optimistic about future trading with 34% of those surveyed anticipating large increases in food sales. A quarter of hotels and 20% of pubs and bars also expect to see large increases.
The survey, undertaken during March-April 2014, reveals that operators are now less likely to be planning cost-saving measures compared with this time last year. In Spring 2013 the majority (73%) said they would be re-engineering menus to reduce costs. This year the proportion making similar plans has fallen to 67%.
Said Emma Read, Horizons’ director of marketing & business development: “These results support our previous research that shows consumers are beginning to increase their spending on eating out.
“Operators are much more optimistic about future food sales than they have been, and are now confident to scale back on the cost-cutting measures they implemented last year.”
Last year nearly half (46%) were planning to withhold capital expenditure over the forthcoming 12 months.
This year just one-third (32%) of operators are planning such cuts. Likewise, the percentage of operators planning to renegotiate supply contracts has fallen from 68% last year to 65% this year, while those intending to renegotiate equipment maintenance contracts has also dropped, from 38% to 27%.
Easing up on cost cutting extends to staffing levels too. Last year 44% of operators were planning to reduce the number of hours their employees were working, while in spring 2014 38% had plans to do so.
And over a third of survey respondents (34%) are planning to increase staff numbers, up from just 21% last year. Those planning to reduce, or freeze, wages has also dropped from 41% last year, to 30% this year.
Of the 300 operators surveyed many report that consumers are spending more when they dine out, with fewer spending under £6 than 12 months ago and significantly more spending over £20. Over two-thirds of businesses (69%) report an increase in food sales year-on-year, with 20% of those reporting a large increase.
Over half the survey participants (51%) report they are now serving more meals at the weekends than they did six months ago, with 47% noting a particular increase in Sunday trade. This uplift is consistent across outlet types, although pubs and bars report the biggest increase in weekend food sales.
There is also a rise in the number of lunches being served, with 53% of respondents saying they were seeing a significant increase in lunch sales.
While the downturn saw consumers cutting back on starters and desserts, operators in the Eating Out-Look survey say that fewer consumers are now doing so. The survey also revealed a significant decline in the proportion of operators who say customers are trading down to lower priced meals (24% compared with 33% in 2013).
“While operators reported that customers were still opting for meal deals or promotions and are trading down to lower priced dishes, this is in sharp decline compared with 2013. Consumers are still cost-conscious, and are likely to remain so, but with average spend rising operators are feeling much more optimistic for the future,” added Emma Read.
*JRA interviewed 296 foodservice professionals for Eating Out-Look for between March-April 2014. The online survey involved joint/sole decision makers with buying responsibility.