Rising cost of living forcing younger people to eat out less

01-Jul-2022 - Last updated on 01-Jul-2022 at 09:49 GMT

The rising cost of living is starting to bite among 18-34 year-olds with the demographic eating out less frequently in restaurants, new data shows.

The number of 18-34 year-olds eating and drinking out reduced across all day parts in the 12 weeks to 12 June 2022, according to Lumina’s latest Eating and Drinking Out Panel (EDOP) quarterly report, with young people turning more to QSR and away from restaurants,

The downward trend is bad news for restaurants, with this age group being the most lucrative category for eating and drinking out, according to Lumina.

However, the proportion of 55+ year olds eating out is increasing, presenting the sector with an opportunity to cater more for the needs of this demographic, it says.

Average spend per visit across all age groups has fallen at breakfast and on snacking in the 12-week period, down 5% and 7% respectively.

Participation at breakfast was also down, by 0.3 percentage points, compared with the previous quarter, according to the report. Participation at lunchtime was slightly higher, however, up 1.4ppts over the quarter.

Overall, average spend increased by just 2% across the eating and drinking out market, with dinner seeing the highest increase, up 4%.

To find out more about Lumina Intelligence’s Eating and Drinking Out panel, please click here.