Cost of Living Crisis Impacts Dining Out

As inflation soars to a 40-year high of 9%, with warnings that it will continue to rise, consumers are beginning to adjust their spending habits. According to a YouGov poll, more than a third of people have been forced to reduce, or stop spending money entirely, on eating out and takeaways over the past 6 months, as a direct result of rising costs and inflation.

Dining out and takeaways ranked 2^nd and 4^th respectively in the key areas in which Britons are cutting back, with 39% of Britons reducing the amount they dine out and 38% reducing their number of takeaways.  27% of Britons have also cut back on their spending on alcohol, with 7% saying that they have had to cut it out entirely for cost reasons.

Consumers are making these reductions as a direct result of the cost of living crisis and projected further energy price increases. Whilst the hospitality industry remains confident that this summer will be prosperous, the anticipated increases in inflation and energy prices, risk a post-summer dip as consumers begin to make further cutbacks in their expenses.

The Government is under increasing pressure to act and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, is expected to announce a package of measures that will alleviate the cost of living crisis, later this week. The hope is that these measures will ease the pressures felt by consumers, thereby positively impacting their behavior as to where and how they spend their money.

You can read the report in more detail here and stay up to date with industry news here.