This is a paid collaboration.
We all enjoy a takeaway from time to time – maybe once, if not twice a week if you’re feeling a bit flash. However, while restaurants and fast-food chains were forced to shut with restrictions at the beginning of the UK’s lockdown – how has this affected the nations love of takeaways?
At the beginning of lockdown restaurants, cafes and fast-food chains, as well as many other non-essential shops and businesses were forced to close. For most food and drink companies to stay afloat during the beginning of the pandemic crisis in the UK – they had to adapt to the circumstances and provided contact-free delivery service.
While businesses offered takeaway options to customers, UK lockdown statistics show that spending on takeaways increased by 18% from the end of March until the beginning of August, compared to the same period previous. With the most significant increases, month on month being between April and May where consumers were spending 22% more on food takeaways than they were between March and April.
However, not all takeaways and fast food companies were winners of the UK’s lockdown, as while takeaways giants such as Deliveroo and Just Eat saw a considerable increase in the number of transactions being made, (up by 86% and 40% respectively) others weren’t so lucky. Fast food giants such as McDonald’s and KFC, despite opening drive-ins and causing catastrophic traffic jams across the UK, lockdown statistics showed a significant in the number of transactions taking place.
Category Winners:
- Just Eat (↑40%)
- Deliveroo (↑86%)
- Domino’s Pizza (↑40%)
- Pizza Hut (↑13%)
- Uber Eats (↑8%)
- Papa John’s (↑54%)
Category Losers:
- Starbucks (↓-57%)
- Costa (↓-76%)
- Pret-a-manger (↓-66%)
- Greggs (↓-78%)
- KFC (↓-50%)
- Marks and Spencer Food (↓-79%)
- McDonalds (↓-69%)
This may not come as a surprise to most – as the food and hospitality sectors were some of the hardest hit during the UK’s lockdown. Which is why Rishi Sunak and the UK Government introduced the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which is rumoured to be making a comeback in selected restaurants over the coming Winter months.
It’s hardly surprising that this type of scheme was introduced as a bid to save the UK’s hospitality sector. As during lockdown spending at restaurants, cafes and bistros dropped down by 74% during the lockdown before the system was introduced – meaning that the sector was in dire need of a cash injection even though businesses were opting to provide contact-free deliveries.
And while it would appear that the scheme has been an enormous success, helping to make a slightly positive impact on our battered economy – with over 64 million meals claimed back in August. With the potential threat of a second lockdown towards the end of October, localised lockdowns and furlough schemes potentially ending – there is a question over how our spending will fare and businesses will be impacted as the pandemic continues into the Autumn and Winter months.
