Download summary slide deck
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 17 April 2023.
Latest results are as follows:
| Latest 52 weeks | 52 weeks (year ago) | 52 w/e YOY change | Latest 12 weeks | 12 weeks | 12 w/e YOY change |
Total out of home GB occasions | 3.592bn | 3.619bn | -1% | 845mn | 858mn | -1% |
Total out of home GB Value | £21.755bn | £20.231bn | +8% | £5.248bn | £5.013bn | +5% |
OCCASIONS:
- Latest MealTrak results show the number of out-of-home eating occasions were -1% lower than the comparable period in 2022, on a 52 week/MAT basis.
- In the latest 12 weeks, the number of out-of-home eating occasions also fell by -1% vs. the equivalent period in 2022.
- In the last 12 weeks, occasions in the ‘eating out’ channel (comprising pubs, restaurants and hotels) grew by +3% vs. the previous year. Pubs continue to outperform the other sub-channels (+17%), ahead of restaurants (-7%) and hotels (-6%).
- Total food to go occasions declined by -2% in the latest 12 weeks. This was driven by forecourts (-22%), transportation sites (-17%), sandwich shops and specialists (-14%), high street (-10%) and coffee shops and cafés (-10%).
- The discounters (+25%) and the multiples (+9%), with their more affordable food-to-go offer, remain the clear winners. However, in the latest 12 weeks, workplace catering (+4%) and independent convenience stores (+1%) were also in growth; and fast food & takeaway was flat (0%).
VALUE
- Value sales increased +8% on a 52 week/MAT basis; and +5% on a 12-week ending basis versus 2022.
Commenting on the results, Tom Fender, Development Director at TWC, said:
“Out of home eating occasions fell by just -1% in the latest 12 weeks, the smallest decline we’ve reported in several months and value sales were back in positive territory (+5% in the latest 12 weeks), giving some seeds of optimism for the out of home sector. Eating Out continued its recent outperformance of food to go, driven by a particularly strong growth for pubs in the latest 12 weeks.”
“On the food-to-go side, the multiples and discounters continued their long-running strong performance, but we also saw independent convenience stores back in positive sales territory this period. Workplace catering also returned to growth, as employees continue to spend more time back to the office.”
“The strongest performing missions in the latest 12 weeks were ‘something quick and easy’ and ‘regular favourite’ while ‘something inexpensive’, which has been in strong growth for many months fell back to third place. 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.