October half term leads to rise in eating out frequency and spend

Data shows that eating out penetration increased by 1 percentage point to 54%, while eating out frequency grew 8% to 1.5 times per week during October, driven by schools being on half term. Average spend also rose, up 3% to £11.76.

Dinner increased its share of occasions by 0.8 percentage points at the expense of breakfast, which dropped a marginal 0.2 percentage points and lunch, which was down 0.5 percentage points. Drinks only accounted for 23.4% of all eating and drinking out occasions, up 0.3 percentage points versus the previous four weeks.

Quick service meals saw the highest increase in the share of total occasions, up 1.7 percentage points over the four weeks, with brands including Burger King and Pizza Hut using Halloween as an opportunity to encourage visits.

The catering and retail channels saw share of occasions increase by 1.0 percentage points and 0.8 percentage points respectively, driven by more snack and drink occasions in and around the workplace.

“October half term has resulted in a buoyant four-week period for UK eating and drinking out,” says insight director at Lumina Intelligence, Blonnie Whist.

“A shift towards the QSR channel indicates consumers are more on the move and looking for quicker, more convenient solutions, which could correlate with more families being out and about in city centre during the school holidays.

“As December approaches, we expect to see frequency, participation and spend continue to grow, as consumers and operators alike look to make up for lost time following 2020.”

The two most popular items, chips and burger, experienced a fall in share of occasions, with the proportion of eating out occasions including chips shifting down 5.5 percentage points and burgers down 4.5 percentage points

Find out more about Lumina Intelligence’s Eating & Drinking Out Panel here​.​