Pub brands lose share at dinner time

Pub brands’ share of visits at dinner time – its most important occasion – in the second quarter of 2019 (April – June), reflecting toughening competition from restaurants and growing customer expectations.

The data, revealed in MCA’s latest Pub Brand Monitor, revealed that last year’s clear top three pub brands for both dinner and lunch visits – JD Wetherspoon, Harvester and Toby Carvery – have all had their share chipped away at each meal occasion. In fact, Harvester dropped out of the top three at lunch to be replaced Hungry Horse.

Greene King, All Bar One and Hungry Horse all made share gains at dinner.

Overall share of the dinner occasion was down from 29.1% in Q2 2018 to 28.6% this year, but minor gains were seen a lunch and breakfast, with the snack occasion seeing uplift of 0.9% to 9.4%. Average spend at dinner was up however, from £18.16 to £20.75 per head per visit.

Beef burgers continued to rise in popularity as an evening meal – up 1.3% to a 13.1% share, with fish and chips up slightly from 9.8% to 10.1% but steak down from 12.1% to 9.8%.

Two major chains that gained share at every meal occasion were Marston’s and Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery, whose customers scored it higher than last year in all key performance indicators, most notably food quality/taste and value for money.

To find out more about the MCA Pub Brand Monitor, email insight.enquiries@mca-insight.com