M&C Report takes a closer look at the latest Taste of the Nation report from Deloitte and BDRC Continental, which surveyed 3,000 consumers in April on their eating and drinking out habits over the previous six months against the pervious year
Coffee and sandwich shops visited the most
According to the research, coffee and sandwich shops was the sub-sector which was most visited, making up 29% of the going out market, with 5.6 outings per month. Year-year on growth is at 3.7% and is predicted to increase by 0.3 occasions over the coming six months.
The quick service sector takes up a 13% share of the going out market and showed a 5.6% increase year-on-year to 2.5 outings per month. The number of visits to the sector was maintained over the last six months, although no growth is predicted for the coming six months.
Visits to pubs increased by 9.5% year-on-year to 4.6 outings per month, making up 23% of the visiting market share. The research found that 18-34 year olds continued to be the most active in the sector with an average of 3.8 outings for a drink per month, and 2.8 outings for food-led occasions. This demographic visits the pub in total two more times per month than the national average. In the next six months, Generation Y, expects to visit the pub less for drinks (-0.1 occasions a month), which will be offset by an increase in visits of food (+0.1 occasions per month).
Visits to bars increased by an impressive 17.9% year-on-year, 0.5 occasions per months to 3.3 outings per month. Generation Y and men, continue to dominate the market, visiting 1.1 more occasions than the national average. Both of these consumer groups predict they will increase bar visits for both drink and food-led occasions.
UK consumers make 1.6 outings per month to casual dining restaurants, a 24.6% year-on-year increase. Generation Y continues to exhibit the greatest growth in this sector of 42.8% year-on-year at 2.7 outings per month, and they predict to increase visits by 7.5%. only consumers in the South West have disengaged from the casual dining market; they have decreased their visits by 0.2 occasions per month and cut back on visits for all food-led occasions.
In the fine dining sub-sector there has been a 35.9% year-on-year increase on dining out occasions to once a month, although there has been no change over the last six months. Visits across this sub sector are expected to continue to increase by 10%.
Outings to clubs make up 5% of the market share, with the national average at one occasion per month.
Pubs and bars lead food-led occasion increases
Although the drink-led sector is still larger than the food-led sector, the trend for consumers shifting from drink-led to food-led outings continues, according to the research.
It found that the greatest year-on-year increases in food-led occasions were found in the bar and pub sub-sectors for food, up 33% and 12% respectively. The bar sector has outperformed past predications, increasing by 0.2 occasions per month to 1.4 outings. This performance contrasted with the slower growth experienced by the drinks-led sub sector, at 8.6% year-on-year.
The research found that in general, pub and bar goers plan to go out as often as before over the next six months, but are more likely to be going out primarily for meal, rather than for a drink.
The coffee and sandwich shops sub sector is leading the way in frequency of food-led outings, by 10.5% at 2.4 occasions a month. It has also the greatest predicted increase of 12.5%, up by 0.3 occasions a month.
Deloitte said that while overall drink-led markers still showed year-on-year growth, this progress occurred at a lesser rate than for food-led markets.
It found that visits to coffee shops for drinks have decreased by 0.2 occasions a month since autumn last year, although this still represents 2.1% year-on-year growth.
The report highlighted that Generation X (35-54 year olds) and Baby Boomers (55+) are cutting back on their coffee shop drinks the most by 14% and 12%, respectively. It said that cost-conscious women also cut back on coffee shop visits by 5.5% year-on-year. Deloitte said that the compromise was being made on “treat” occasions, such as visits for a mid-morning snack and afternoon tea.
The research found that drink-led outing to pubs were up 7.5% on last year, to 2.8 outings per month. However, visits to the pub for drink-led occasions is the only sector to show a negative prediction for the coming six months, down 0.1 occasion per month (-3.4%), this offsets the predicted 5.6% growth in food-led pub visits.
Men lead going out occasions
The report found that men of all generations go out 60% more often than women, despite indicating in past years that they intended to their going out behaviour.
The survey said that this would suggest that men were more spontaneous or impulsive, or perhaps have less will power than women.
In contrast, women predicted to go out more, but actually went out less in the six months to the end of April.
The report said that both men and women now predict that they will go out more, influenced by the prospect of a good summer.
Generation Y most connected
Generation Y, 18-34 year-olds, are the most connected consumers driven by discounts and mainly use review sites to inform their going out decisions, according to Deloitte.
The research showed that 61% of Generation Y referred to social media to inform their going out decisions.
The report found that more than a third of all consumers refer to social media to inform their going out decisions; with 33% consulting review sites and 21% consulting a social network.
Review sites were found to be used more widely than social networking sites across all demographics and regions, and mostly used to search for discounts.
Clubs see highest levels of social media engagement
The level of social media engagement was found to be the highest for nightclubs and lowest for coffee and sandwich shops, according to the research.
It said that clubs, which reported engagement of over 50%, were the perfect forum for social media as their customers are from Generation Y, the social media generation.
The report suggested that coffee and sandwich shops receive the lowest engagement on social media due to less available discounts and fewer pre-planned visits. Despite this, engagement is still over 20% for this sub sector.
