EATING OUT
hospitalitytoday.com | 35
Concern over diet and food sourcing
Average spend now £14.41
Signs of recovery in Britain’s eating out
market are being accompanied by concerns
over food quality, the sourcing and provenance
of ingredients and health and lifestyle factors
– and these issues are influencing where
consumers choose to eat out - found
Horizons latest “QuickBite” consumer
eating out survey, conducted by YouGov.
When asked about their choice of venue or
choice of menu item, 41% of respondents
said they were influenced by at least one
of the health eating factors listed such as
the availability of vegetarian options (15%),
calorie information (14%), reduced fat choices
(9%) and the availability of low-carb dishes
(4%). The 35-44 year olds and 18-24 year olds
were the most likely to seek these lifestyle
choices (44%), with women (47%) more
concerned with health and lifestyle factors
than men (43%).
Knowing the origin and provenance
of main ingredients was found to be
important to 56% of respondents,
compared with 42% who didn’t think
food provenance was important.
Over half (54%) welcomed changes to
allergen legislation coming in at the end
of 2014, which will see restaurants and
other eating out establishments required
to provide consumers with more detailed
information about ingredients used in
the dishes they serve.
“We were surprised that so many
respondents cited these lifestyle factors
as influencing their choice of venue,
particularly as our research shows that
restaurants tend to only have one or two
vegetarian choices,” said Nicola Knight
of Horizons.