The survey of 8970 people conducted by the Michelin star chef’s company, which operates Marcus at the Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge, The Gilbert Scott at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, and Tredwells in Covent Garden, found that only 54% of diners plans to spend the same amount of money on dining out as before lockdown.
More than a third (34%) said they intended to spend less, with 11% saying that they would spend more.
The survey, which was conducted between Wednesday 20 May and Wednesday 28 May, also found that 31.4% of respondents were quite concerned about returning to restaurants, with 23.4% of people saying they only felt a little concern about returning.
People around other guests in a dining room is a key concern for diners, according to the findings, with 90% of respondents either very concerned (36%) or somewhat concerned (54%) about fellow diners, compared with 17% been very concerned about being in close proximity to staff and 58% being somewhat concerned.
Not surprisingly then, customers also expressed a preference for dining in private spaces post lockdown, with a private room more appealing for 60% of respondents.
In terms of safety measures, respondents were firmly in favour of temperature checks for staff, with 73.7% saying they would like to see this being done, but only just over a third said they would like staff to wear face masks (33.9%) and 37% said they wanted staff to wear gloves.
Customers are also broadly against having to take safety measures such as wearing a mask or gloves in the dining room, with 62% saying there were not comfortable wearing a mask and 65% uncomfortable wearing gloves.