The figures, released by purchase intelligence platform Cardlytics, are based on the data of over three million active accounts of UK bank users and more than 150 restaurants.
They show that spending on eating out in restaurants grew by only 3% year on year in the first quarter of 2018, compared with 9% growth in the same quarter the previous year.
Spend on delivery services, meanwhile, rose 17% during the same period, says Cardlytics, with Just Eat and Deliveroo the drivers of this growth.
Many restaurants do benefit from the use of delivery services, and the data indicates that delivery has contributed to the growth in restaurant spend.
The research also shows that certain types of eat-in businesses are struggling in the industry’s current climate.
In the restaurant category, casual dining restaurants were the worst performers. Here spending fell by 1% year-on-year, compared to a growth of 5% in 2017 and 10% in 2016.
Casual-dining restaurants used to be top performers, accounting for almost half of peoples’ restaurant spend two years ago, but this has dropped to make up just 40%, with quick-service restaurants just behind at 39%.
“Our data shows the restaurant landscape is continuing to shift, with casual and high-end casual dining suffering from a challenging winter period,” says Duncan Smith, Commercial Director at Cardlytics UK.
“The cold weather has clearly supported delivery services, but with the seasons changing, there is an opportunity for physical restaurants to entice customers back with new partnerships, and diversification of their rewards and offers.”