The Russian-Ukraine war and rising energy bills have increased the cost of living globally including in the UK. Foods have become exorbitantly expensive. Hence people are spending less money on foods. To increase spending, restaurants are introducing sharing menus and this has been successful.
Rising inflation and food costs
Worldwide inflation has skyrocketed. Foods have gone out of reach of the poor and lower strata of society. People are spending less money on foods. They are trying to save money to pay for the rising energy bills. Lumina Intelligence, the leading research firm has found that people are spending 14% less money in restaurants this year compared to the last year. And this reduction in food expenditure has been by foregoing starters and desserts. Now people are buying only the main course of food meals.
Sharing foods in restaurant (Source: Event industry news)In the period from June to October, Lumina found that people are also drinking less outside. Alcohol consumption fell from 38.5% to 33.9%. Young people between the age group of 18 to 34 years are increasingly going for booze free meals. Now friends are meeting more over coffee than over a full meal.
The average spending per person in restaurants dropped from £25.38 to £21.80 this year. While cafes and sandwich shops showed a marginal rise in spending per head from £6.05 to £6.69. Research by the consumer consultancy CGA revealed that 34% of people now go for cheaper foods on the menu and 25% were ordering less on the menu than at normal times.
Major shifts in eating
Andrew Opie, the British Retail Consortium’s director of food and sustainability says:
“We’ve started to see major shifts in the market – consumers using their buying power to manage their own basket inflation,”
He added:
“We’re seeing people changing their shopping habits, just to try and make their household income go a little bit further.”
Linden stores Audlem (Source: Linden Stores)Ready meal demand is falling and people are preferring to cook at home from scratch to cut down expenditure on eating. Andrew explained:
“And also, [there’s] less eating out, potentially, going forwards,”
“People eating more in the home, so more of a home focus.”
And hence the concept of sharing menus came up and it has been a success.
Sharing menus
Linden Stores in Cheshire village in Audlem has started sharing menus of modern British foods. One in seven desserts are shared. Laura Christie, co owner of the restaurant said:
“It was quite a new idea for people. We’re in a small village but it turned out we were breaking more boundaries than we’d thought with this sharing concept.”
Read also: British households swaying away from healthy eating with rising inflation!
Sharing menus on the rise (Source: Broadsheet)Lumina reveals:
“Restaurants are introducing more sharing dishes across discretionary courses, including starter and dessert dishes, to encourage spend as customers cut back,”
Laura explained:
“It [Menu sharing] makes people feel like they’re getting more of an experience. It helps our spend per head. And it helps with efficiency, because you know what you’re having to prep and you need less people to deliver it because you know, ahead of time, what you’re doing.”