Restaurant groups enjoy sales boost as wet weather dampens growth for pubs and bars

The Tracker, produced by CGA by NIQ in partnership with The Coffer Group and RSM UK, reveals like-for-like sales across the market, which encompasses managed restaurant, pub and bar groups, increased by 7.8% last month.

Pubs have been the market leading segment since May 2022, when year-on-year tracking recommenced post-Covid, with the past couple of months of sunshine providing an extra boost to sales growth.

However, the stagnant temperatures and wet weather throughout July moved consumers back indoors, and pubs performed below the market average at 7% sales growth.

Bars have continued to hold a similar position as seen in recent months, with like-for-like sales down 7.1% on last year.

Whilst a slightly negative period for pubs and bars, restaurants enjoyed a boost in their like-for-like sales growth, rising to a market leading 12.2% in July.

“As the hotter weather declined in July, the effect this has had on drink-led outlet sales has come as no surprise, especially considering the positive results from the more favourable weather we had in June,” Karl Chessell, director - hospitality operators and food, EMEA at CGA by NIQ

“Whilst its disappointing to see the weather have a negative effect on drink-led outlets, the positive period for restaurants is encouraging.”

Growth was steady across the country in July, with the performance gap between London and the rest of the country continuing to narrow.

The Tracker shows managed groups’ like-for-like sales growth within the M25 were unchanged from June, at 8.1%, whilst growth outside the M25 has risen again to 7.7%.

“Whilst July’s weather was a washout for much of the UK, it proved to be a ray of sunshine for Britain’s managed restaurant groups with inflation beating growth when compared to the year before,” says Paul Newman, head of leisure and hospitality at RSM UK.

Newman adds that the success of both Barbie ​and Oppenheimer ​at the UK cinema box office would have helped drive significant footfall to casual dining restaurants.

“[This] underlines the positive impact that a booming entertainment sector can have on the eating out market,” he continues.

“With the pace of earnings poised to outstrip inflation for the first time in more than a year, the outlook for consumer spending in the leisure sector looks somewhat rosier than it did a few months back.”