Demand

Understand what’s driving, or dampening, customer demand across restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés, and contract catering. Our focused reporting features dining trends, footfall patterns, booking behaviour, menu shifts, delivery and takeaway volumes, and the wider economic factors impacting consumer spend in hospitality. Whether you’re adapting to shifting weekday trade, reacting to seasonal fluctuations, or planning promotional strategies, this archive offers data-driven insights to help operators, chefs, and F&B leaders align operations with real-time market dynamics.

May- 2019 -

31 May

Analysis

The UK dining sector: A recipe for change

As concerns over Brexit mounted in 2018, consumer spending on the UK’s high streets was anything but “strong and stable”. One of the sectors most impacted was dining. Spend growth fell to just 3% year-on-year compared to 9% in 2017, according to our analysis of the transactions of over 2.5m…
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20 May

Food and Drink

Belsfield launches new vegan, vegetarian, gluten and dairy-free menus

Four-star Laura Ashley hotel, The Belsfield, has launched four brand-new afternoon tea menus in order to appeal to a wide-range of diets. As well as a traditional afternoon tea menu, The Belsfield’s two-AA Rosette chefs have created vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free afternoon tea menus. Priced from £22.95 per person,…
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13 May

Business

Easter heatwave boosts drink sales while eating-out market suffers

The hot Easter weekend delivered different outcomes for Britain’s managed pub and restaurant groups, latest figures from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker show. While pub sales surged, restaurants took a hit during the month of April. Pub and bar chains reported collective like-for-like sales up 5.3% for the four-day break…
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1 May

Advice

Business expansion

Every business is unique and while the way each business runs is dependent on several factors, growth and expansion are key goals for most business owners and entrepreneurs. Rachel Tweedale, co-director at the Elite Fish and Chip Company, explains the challenges she has faced while growing Elite’s third-generation family business…
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Apr- 2019 -

30 April

Business

Whitbread sees 40% plummet in full-year profits

Hospitality group, Whitbread has announced a 40% drop in profit in its first set of full-year results following the sale of Costa Coffee to Coca-Cola. Whitbread blamed Brexit uncertainty and weak UK hotel demand at its Premier Inns brand for the slow growth figures. Without the effects of the Costa…
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25 April

Restaurants

Bristol café/restaurant Dela up for sale

Dela in Easton, Bristol has been put up for sale by the current owners. Situated in a former Victorian warehouse, the Mivart Street restaurant is being marketed by leisure property specialists Fleurets. Co-owners Mike Orme and Lara Lindsay opened Dela in 2017 and are now looking to explore other opportunities.…
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17 April

Food and Drink

FSA urges vigilance in light of food hygiene rating scam

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has urged food businesses to be vigilant after it was made aware of a scam in Wales and England which references both the FSA and the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS). Three local authorities in Wales and one in England have received reports of a…
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11 April

Features

Recruitment in the catering industry

When asked in a recent survey, only one third of employees from the catering industry said that they chose their job based on having a passion for food. But, what makes this industry an attractive one to work in and what is recruitment currently like in the sector? Is there…
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11 April

Business

Potential £9bn market for sector as vegans pay 65% more for meals

Vegans are spending the most money when they go out to eat, with diners spending up to £37.55 on the average meal. That’s £9.43 (33%), a third more than vegetarians (£28.12) and £14.88 (65%) more than those with no dietary requirements at all (£22.67). Caterer.com, the UK hospitality jobs board,…
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8 April

Catering Companies

Butlin’s introduces plant-based dishes

Butlin’s has announced it is to add a number of new plant-based dishes to its menu as the result of a partnership with plant-based food manufacturer Oomph. The new dishes will be available on the starter and main course menus at the resort operator’s Diner restaurants in Minehead and Bognor…
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