Restaurants introduce tempting deals to boost sales

30th April 2010, 9:24am

The UK's restaurant, hotel and pub operators are using a range of techniques to keep diners eating out including variations on 'meal deal' offers and by labelling more dishes with health claims and details of food provenance.

New Menurama research from foodservice analyst Horizons, which analyses menus from 100 high street foodservice brands, found deals such as 'Italian car owners eat for free on Thursdays' at Revolution, 'curry & pint night for £4.99' at Hungry Horse, and 'all you can eat' for £7.75 at Whitbread's Table Table.

Some offers encourage diners to trade up to bigger portions such as Marston's 'go large for £1' on its carvery, 'go large on your chips for 35p' at Beefeater, 'add an extra egg' on gammon & chips at Punch Taverns, 'add a dessert for £2' at Pizza Hut or 'upgrade to an 8oz steak for £1' at Miller & Carter.

Operators are also making more use of provenance-related labelling such as 'rope-grown British mussels' and 'organic Shetland salmon', while terms such as 'farm assured', 'line-caught' and 'locally grown' as well as health-related claims such as 'nutritional balance', and '5-a-day' are becoming more common.

The Orchid pub company offers a roasted half of chicken with chips and a superfood salad, while Giraffe's menu has an 'ultimate superfood rude health muesli', a wheat-free, organic blend of oats, rye, quinoa and barley flakes with chopped dried fruits and wild berries.

Exotic-sounding dishes are appearing more frequently on menus too, as chains attempt to offer customers something new. Pub chain Varsity, for example, has a dish called  'dirty dog's dinner' (served in a dog bowl) and vodka chilli cherry tomato pasta, Blubeckers sells chips with Bloody Mary Ketchup, Scream has Quorn and Chianti lasagne while Las Iguanas has brie and papaya quesadilla.

However, while menus may be getting more adventurous, prices are rising. Over the past 12 months the average cost of a starter has risen 8% to £5.27, a main course has increased 1.4% to £8.98 and the price of a dessert has gone up 11.9% to £4.53.

Since January 2009 the price of a three-course pub meal has risen 6% from £14.85 to £15.74, a restaurant meal is up 5.1% from £19.48 to £20.47, while the average cost of a hotel meal has risen 6.6% over the past 12 months, from £26.45 to £28.20. In some restaurants the price of optional service charge has been raised from 10% to 12.5%.

Horizons' managing director Peter Backman forecast that the eating out market would grow over the next 18 months, but only modestly:
"Despite uncertainty about the economy and the election outcome, consumers are still eating out, although they are clearly spending less than they did. Operators are going to have to perform better than customers expect in order to improve trading."

He added: "However, the Olympic Games in 2012 could bring an additional £145m in revenue to the hospitality sector."

Related Articles:

• 28 Apr 2011 - Cost of eating out reaches all time high, finds Horizons research
• 01 Nov 2010 - Price of eating out rises 5% year-on-year despite recession, finds Horizons survey
• 20 Oct 2010 - Hotel and restaurant group Whitbread experiences 7.8% boost in total sales
• 20 Oct 2010 - NEW RECRUITMENT MANAGER AT GIRAFFE
• 07 Sep 2010 - Are restaurants wasting their time with discount vouchers?
• 23 Jun 2010 - Whitbread reports strong start to financial year
• 18 Aug 2009 - Restaurant operators urged to control costs
• 10 Jun 2009 - Eating out is falling after hitting new high
• 16 Apr 2009 - Brits opt for chicken breast over sirloin steak
• 13 Jan 2009 - Consumers eat out less but spend more
• 18 Dec 2008 - Horizons broadens with new acquisition

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