Delivery and takeaway sales rise for third sucessive month

CGA by NIQ’s Hospitality at Home Tracker shows revenue from orders was 6% higher than in August 2022.

It extends a run of growth that followed 18 successive months of negative year-on-year trading as consumers started eating out again after the easing of Covid lockdowns.

CGA’s Tracker shows a 9% rise in delivery sales by value — a much faster rate of growth than the figure of 1% in takeaways and click-and-collect sales. The combined volume of orders dropped again month-by-month by 2%, though this rate of decline has slowed recently.

While sales have recovered over the summer, deliveries and takeaways are now a much smaller part of restaurants’ trading mix than they were during Covid. Combined sales accounted for 13% of groups’ total sales in August — a sharp drop from 22% in August 2022.

“Delivery and takeaway sales have fallen substantially from the boom years of 2020 and 2021, when they were vital in sustaining restaurants’ trading through lockdowns,” says Karl Chessell, CGA’s business unit director - hospitality operators and food, EMEA.

“But it’s encouraging to see them back in year-on-year growth now, and they are certain to remain a significant element of restaurants’ operations.

“It will be important to optimise delivery logistics and third-party partnerships for consumers who have become accustomed to ordering in, while continuing to provide compelling reasons for others to eat out.”