Hospitality Leaders Poll: Confidence is growing

Confidence is on the up among operators, according to the latest weekly Hospitality Leaders Poll by MCA/HIM.

Last week, when asked how confident they were in the future for their business, of the 308 polled 57% expressed a level of confidence, with 11% saying they were ‘confident’ about the future, 42% saying they were ‘quite confident’ and just 3% saying they were ‘very confident’ about the future for their business.

This week, of the 271 respondents, all of whom are board level operators or founders, that figure jumped to 68%, possibly as a result of the VAT cut and Eat Out to Help Out scheme unveiled by chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Some 13% said they were ‘confident’ about the future, 51% said they were ‘quite confident’ and 4% said they were ‘very confident’ about what lies ahead.

The poll also found that 58% of operators plan to participate in the discount scheme, though the scheme is, perhaps naturally, proving more popular with restaurants than pubs, with just 23% of restaurants saying they wouldn’t take part compared to 51% of pubs.