Rising cost of living sees average spend drop 9%
Lumina Intelligence’s Eating & Drinking Out Panel revealed the data, which was put down to being driven by decade-high inflation, rising energy costs and fears of higher prices alongside disposable income being squeezed and consumers keeping a closer eye on outgoings.
It stated this was evident in eating and drinking out frequency as no change was recorded compared to the previous 12-week period (ending 26 December 2021), indicating consumers are restricting spend per head and looking for affordable solutions.
Eating out participation dropped a little by 0.4 percentage points, illustrating the cost-of-living crisis slowing the market’s recovery.
Different day-parts
Breakfast occasions saw the largest rise in consumer spend (up 4%) however, lunch spend fell by 10%, dinner by a similar percentage (8%) and snack by 5%.
The fall in consumer confidence due to the cost-of-living crisis, increased fuel prices and the invasion of Ukraine have led to a one percentage point drop in share for pubs and bars.
Lumina Intelligence senior insight manager Katie Prowse said: “Following the easing of coronavirus restrictions, operators would have been hoping for a smooth ride to recovery.
“However, with decade high inflation, the road ahead will be challenging. Consumer confidence continues to fall as average spend and penetration decline."
Losing market share
She added: “Consumers are turning to lower ticket solutions and day-parts, causing restaurants and pubs to lose market share.”
However, data from Barclaycard looked at consumer spending for the month of March compared to the same period in 2019, which found hospitality and leisure saw a 18.3% rise, boosted by a 41.7% surge in spending at bars, pubs and clubs.
This boost was attributed in part to the rising popularity of chip and pin and contactless payments over cash, something that accelerated during the pandemic.
