The figure represents a slight strengthening from growth of 4.6% in August. Year-on-year trading has been comfortably above the rate of inflation in every month of 2024 so far.
The Tracker shows restaurants’ at-home sales continue to be powered by deliveries, which finished 8.5% ahead of the levels of September 2023. They accounted for nearly 12% of restaurants’ total sales last month.
Groups were also buoyed by 0.7% growth in takeaway and click-and-collect sales — a second successive month of fractional growth after a long-term decline in trading as consumers switched to the convenience of deliveries.
However, deliveries now account for 57% of restaurants’ total at-home orders, with takeaways and click-and-collects sharing 43%.
“Growth in deliveries and takeaways has outstripped in-venue sales for most of 2024, and September’s poor weather meant many consumers continued to order in their restaurant meals rather than eat out,” says Karl Chessell, CGA by NIQ’s director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA.
“The modest revival of pick-up orders is an encouraging sign of stability, though growth here is being achieved by price rises rather than extra volumes. With spending still tight, real-terms growth in either channel will be hard earned for some time to come.”