Research by foodservice consultancy Horizons reported that 66% of operators saw an increase in food sales in the last 12 months, with 21% reporting a ‘large’ increase.
However, operators said more customers were spending less than £12 a head, with fewer spending anything more than £16. Average spend per customers as of April 2015 was £11.03, with 62% of customers spending an average of £12 up from 51% last year.
Emma Read, director of marketing and business development at Horizons, said: “People are now snacking more, or having one or maybe two courses instead of three, which explains why average spend appears to have fallen.
“Foodservice operators have done a great job of changing their offer and adapting to the way consumers eat out today, providing more foods that satisfy the snacking opportunity throughout the day – this typically means several small meals during the day, whether it be coffee and porridge bought to eat at our desks in the morning, a muffin with a coffee mid-morning or light snack in the afternoon.”
Weekend boost
According to Horizon’s data, weekends in particular have a seen a boost in consumer activity, with 42% of operators saying they were serving more meals from Friday to Sunday.
Pubs and bars reported the biggest boost in weekend sales (61%).
Optimistic operators
78% of respondents said they expected to see a further sales increase over the next year, with 58% expecting a small increase and 20% a considerably larger one.
However, the number of optimistic operators dropped slightly since last year, when 87% said they were expecting sales growth and 20% said they were expecting it to be by a large amount.