Growth in deliveries and takeaways continues to be much higher than in eating and drinking out even though this eased last month with the return to pre-Covid eating-out habits, new research reveals.
Combined sales by value for October were 98% higher than in the same month in 2019 and 13% higher than in October 2020, according to the latest edition of the CGA & Slerp Hospitality at Home Tracker.
The Tracker shows that deliveries and takeaways accounted for just over 27p in every pound of spending at managed groups last month.
But the rate of 2021-on-2019 growth has steadily slowed from 206% in July to 176% in August and to 130% in September, it found.
The increase in delivery sales since 2019 has been seven times higher than takeaways, as people have become more used to having food and drink delivered to their door rather than collecting it, the Tracker found.
The October edition of the separate CGA Coffer Business Tracker, with a different cohort of contributing companies, indicates that managed restaurants, pubs and bars grew their sales by 3% on October 2019.
Karl Chessell, CGA’s business unit director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA, said deliveries and takeaways had boomed ever since lockdowns began in spring 2020, but sales were now starting to settle into new patterns.
“However, with many people growing accustomed to the convenience of deliveries, and concerns about eating and drinking out lingering for others, these channels are going to remain central to trading,” he said.
“For all managed groups, balancing at-home and eat-in business, and growing both without compromising either, is going to be an operational priority as we move into 2022.”
Slerp founder JP Then emphasised the importance of digitalisation of the entire restaurant experience with an increase in adoption of products such as order-at-table options as well as continuing demand for online ordering.
“Operators who harness the power of digital for both on and off premise dining are the operators seeing the biggest success.”
