Sales across the UK’s eating and drinking out sector continued to prove resilient in November, up 2.1% on the previous the year, the sixth consecutive month of positive trading.
The latest Coffer Peach Business Tracker, which monitors the performance of 24 major pub and restaurant groups including Mitchells & Butlers, Whitbread and Gondola, found like-for-like sales climbed by 2.1% last month, after a 0.9% rise in October.
Total sales, which include the effect of new openings, were up 6.2% on November 2010, demonstrating the underlying resilience of the market and that the public continue to view going out to eat and drink as an affordable treat.
The figure for the eating and drinking out sector again outstripped that of the retail sector, which reported a 1.6% decline in like-for-like sales last month.
Mark Sheehan, managing director of Coffer Corporate Leisure, said: “Pubs and restaurant sales continue to hold up, although, as confirmed in the Punch Taverns announcement on Friday, there is very much a north/south divide.
“Restaurants are competing against heavy discounting a year ago, whilst in the managed pub sector sales are generally strong, albeit against a low base in 2010. Although the outlook is uncertain and operators are certainly being conservative with budgets, these figures show a relatively robust sector.”
Richard Hathaway, KPMG’s head of Travel, Leisure & Tourism, said: “Monthly aggregated like-for-like sales are up and encouraging. The fact that the sector has shown yet another month of growth clearly demonstrates that those strong operators who understand their customers and provide them with ‘value’ can still deliver a robust performance in an austere and volatile economy.
“Next year is expected to be yet another tough one, but any ‘feel good factor’ during and in the build-up to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics should provide a much needed boost to consumer confidence and therefore the eating and drinking out sector.”
