Restaurants & Dining

As the restaurant industry faces continued operational challenges and indoor dining constraints loom across the country, many consumers are turning to food delivery apps.

Even with a partial lifting of lockdown measures, the coronavirus continues to limit movement of people—and this has hit the UK high street hard. From retailers with a high dependency on physical stores to restaurants and coffee shops without delivery facilities, the obstacles have proven insurmountable for some. For others, the longer-term question is, "Will the UK high street be able to recover when (and if) normalcy returns?"

With the coronavirus pandemic leading to a significant economic slowdown, we’re providing updated guidance to our clients about what we expect for ad spending during H1 2020.

The coronavirus pandemic is touching all aspects of daily life in the UK and around the world. From an industry perspective, those most affected thus far rely on movement of people, particularly travel and hospitality. Some have been able to adapt to this new reality, sustained largely by digital, but the hospitality sector is grappling with an environment where human contact of any kind is becoming increasingly limited, even when mediated by digital.

Brands have sought after millennials since the segment was identified as a demographic phenomenon reminiscent of the boomers. There’s been heavy investment in the creation of products and services that fit within an evolving consumer culture, one increasingly defined by this influential cohort. Growing independence and earning make this group the most digitally connected of all.

Consumers are embracing mobile delivery as they get comfortable with mcommerce, and quick service restaurants are seizing the opportunity.

Food delivery, common in urban areas where population is dense and car ownership is low, is expanding to the suburbs and beyond thanks to the rise of digital services connecting users to restaurants.

Are consumers eating out more frequently or are they preparing more meals at home? According to new NPD Group data, over 80% of meals were prepared and eaten at home in 2017. US consumers dined out 185 times last year, down from the 2000 peak when that figure was 216.

Doom and gloom often surrounds discussion of brick-and-mortar retail. It's hard not to see the demise of traditional stores like Sears and Toys 'R' Us as bellwethers for the industry. Many stores are closing locations but is it as dire as it seems on the surface?

As in many industries, there is a gap between consumer expectations and business execution for restaurants. Operators are often slow to adopt new technologies and those that they've implemented aren't always satisfactory. A February 2018 survey by BRP and Windstream Enterprise found that restaurant operators met consumer expectations on only two factors: mobile payments and free Wi-Fi.