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Wholesale experts TWC Group, in partnership with food-to-go and out-of-home tracking programme MealTrak, reports the latest food-to-go market performance to 12 w/e 15 May 2023.
Latest results are as follows:
| Latest 52 weeks | 52 weeks (year ago) | 52 w/e YOY change | Latest 12 weeks | 12 weeks (year ago) | 12 w/e YOY change | |
| Total out of home GB occasions | 3.632bn | 3.641bn | n/c | 861mn | 828mn | +4% |
| Total out of home GB Value | £22.062bn | £20.558bn | +7% | £5.389bn | £4,958bn | +9% |
OCCASIONS:
- Latest MealTrak results show the number of out-of-home eating occasions were in line with the comparable period in 2022, on a 52 week/MAT basis.
- In the latest 12 weeks, the number of out-of-home eating occasions grew by +4% vs. the equivalent period in 2022.
- In the last 12 weeks, occasions in the ‘eating out’ channel (comprising pubs, restaurants and hotels) grew by +7% vs. the previous year. Pubs continue to outperform the other sub-channels (+25%), ahead of hotels (+14%) and restaurants (-8%).
- Total food to go occasions grew by +4% in the latest 12 weeks. This was driven by the discounters (+27%), the multiples (+10%), independent convenience stores (+10%), high street (+7%) and fast food & takeaways (+6%)
- Meanwhile, forecourts (-13%), transportation sites (-8%), sandwich shops and specialists (-4%) and coffee shops and cafés (-1%) were all in decline, and workplace was static
VALUE
- Value sales increased +7% on a 52 week/MAT basis; and +9% on a 12-week ending basis versus 2022.
Commenting on the results, Tom Fender, Development Director at TWC, said:
“It is really encouraging to see out of home eating occasions back in growth this period, not just in value but also in terms of the number of occasions, which were up +4% in the latest 12 weeks (vs. year ago). Encouragingly, independent convenience stores are one of the star performers in the latest data, with 12 week ending growth of +10%, which is in line with the multiples, who have been outperforming the market for some time.”
“The winning missions continue to be ‘something quick and easy’ and ‘regular favourite’, suggesting consumers want ease and are not willing to take risks (‘something different’ remains in strong decline). Meanwhile, ‘something inexpensive’ remains in year-on-year growth but is not driving the market to the extent it was a few months ago. A shift away from the sector being entirely value driven can only be a good thing for suppliers and operators and aligns with the gradual improvement in consumer confidence (as reported by GFK).”
Mealtrak is a vast data source so if you would like to know more of the detail behind these headlines, please contact Tom Fender at TWC (Tom@twcgroup.net) for more information.