The survey, which aims to share insight into the general sentiment of the hospitality industry, found the increasing cost of raw ingredients to be the greatest issue, with 65% of respondents highlighting it as their biggest rise in expenditure since the Brexit vote. Of these, over a third (36%) of businesses admitted that this would “have to be passed on to the customer through price increases,” whilst “12% suggested that it would lead to them introducing stricter portion controls” and “3% suggested it would lead to staff cutbacks.”
Another prevalent issue was recruitment - one third of operators unsure if they would continue to recruit in the second half of 2017 – and 40% claiming to have hired untrained staff in order to fill roles, whilst 25% have instead opted to increase the hours of existing staff.
When asked about general food trends, 28% said that healthy eating and the desire for locally sourced produce (23%) will continue to be key for customers, along with the desire for traditional, home-cooked options (17%).
For more information and a complete breakdown of the survey result, visit: https://www.nisbets.co.uk/pulse