The news comes from procurement company Prestige Purchasing, who carried out a survey on 40 of the country’s biggest operators who have a combined turnover of £58.5+ billion.
Fears that import tariffs, migrant labour restrictions and a weakening pound will have the biggest negative impact on their food and drink supply, there was also ‘high levels of concern’ about product availability and quality, and increasing distribution costs.
- Operators are more concerned about cost of food and drink supply than climate change
- 73% said leaving the EU without an agreement would have negative supply consequences
- 67% believe cancelling or indefinitely delaying Brexit would have positive consequences
David Read, Prestige Purchasing chairman, said: “this survey shows the deep level of concern about Brexit being felt by supply chain professionals within many of the large and well- established catering businesses in the UK, most of which are household names. Since the referendum outcome in 2016 the CGA Prestige Foodservice Price Index* has shown 11% food/drink inflation due mainly to the slump in the value of sterling. Whilst many operators have taken action to mitigate some of the negative outcomes, the level of complexity and uncertainty involved may well result in large price increases post March 2019.”