In the latest 12-weeks, there were 807 million eating out of home occasions in the 12 weeks ending 11 July 2022, and the ‘eating out’ channel was in strong growth at +42% versus the previous year.
Value sales are also up, 24% on a 52 week/MAT basis and +19% on a 12 week ending basis, versus 2021.
Tom Fender, Development Director at TWC, said: “Encouragingly, for the moment at least, value growth remains ahead of occasions, indicating that spends are holding up and consumers are continuing to seek rewarding experiences rather than trying down on prices and functionality.”
Interestingly (and unusually) growth is currently being driven by older consumers, especially 45 – 64 year olds, where growth is much stronger than for the younger age groups across both Eating Out and Food on the Go. Eating Out has been recovering well in this 65+ age group, although, says Fender, this has dropped away over the latest 12-weeks, perhaps because this age group is more vulnerable to the impact of rising costs.
“Similarly, over the last 12-months growth in all channels has been driven more by women than men, but this has reversed over the last 12-weeks, with women too perhaps changing their behaviour more rapidly in response to current economic pressures,” he said.