Mobile bookings, vegetarian restaurants and family-friendly dining all surged in 2014 as more customers opt for convenience and choice when eating out, according to Bookatable, the online restaurant reservation service’s Quarterly Dining Trends Report.
The report found that six of the top 10 most booked restaurants are in the Midlands or further north showing growth in the northern dining scene, coupled with the move by many London restaurants to eschew reservations in favour of queuing.
The use of technology is changing the face of dining as shown by an increase of 19% in restaurant bookings made via a mobile device in 2014 year on year.
John Steele, CEO of Bookatable, said: “We are very excited to see such a dramatic rise in the number of bookings made on our platform through mobiles devices, and feel this demonstrates an exciting shift in consumer behaviour towards on-the-go mobile booking over desktop use.”
Vegetarian and vegan dining is on the rise, with an increase in bookings of 19%at restaurants that have strong meat-free offers between April and December last year with London offering more vegetarian options than anywhere else in the country.
Italian and British cuisine were shown to be the most booked restaurants in 2014 led by the popularity of Jamie’s Italian group, which accounted for two of the top ten most booked restaurants.
The top ten most popular restaurants at Bookatable last year were as follows:
1. OXO Tower Brasserie, London
2. Afternoon Tea at The Ritz, London
3. Alton Towers
4. The Rainforest Café, London
5. Cloud 23, Deansgate, Manchester
6. Jamie’s Italian, Newcastle
7. Covent Garden Fire & Stone, London
8. Miller & Carter, Sutton Park Birmingham
9. Jamie’s Italian, Birmingham
10. Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, Birmingham
There is little change to the top 10 from June 2013 - June 2014 with Jamie’s Italian Newcastle replacing its sister site in Manchester on the list.
