Research commissioned by Groupola.com shows that there’s been a 63 per cent increase in people eating outside of the home on last year, with one in five choosing to eat out every week.
Almost two thirds of the 1,300 people questioned said it was an increased disposable income that allowed them to eat out more in 2010 than in 2009, when the strained British economy forced consumers to tighten their belts.
Swapping takeaways for vouchers
During the recession last year takeaways became increasingly popular, with Dominos reporting a 25 per cent rise in pre-tax profits.
But with restaurants choosing to offer cut-price meals in the form of dining vouchers, which subsequently made eating out cheaper than ordering a takeaway, eating out has become popular once more, with 58 per cent of people swapping their takeaways for restaurant meals.
Mark Pearson, managing director of Groupola.com, said: “We commissioned this research because it was very well known that last year dining out started to fade out and ordering in started to increase. I was happy to see that people have started to eat in restaurants more now, it shows that we are all getting back on our feet financially.”
While Martin Lewis of moneysupermarket.com predicts that dining vouchers, 2.4 million of which are redeemed every day, will remain popular for the foreseeable future, operators have been warned to wean consumers off of coupons to avoid damaging their brand.
Last September Glyn Bunting from Deloitte said: “Operators need to use promotions wisely, to ensure that their initiatives genuinely increase sale rather than cannibalising profit margins on business they would have anyway.”
Pub popularity
According to the Groupola study, just a quarter of those polled visit the local pub more in 2010 than they did 2009.