Delivery and takeaway sales down again but decline slows
Delivery order volumes in April were 10% below the same month in 2022, while takeaway and click-and-collect orders contracted by 9%
Delivery and takeaway sales in the UK dropped 1% year-on year for April, the 17th straight month of year-on-year decline, according to data from CGA Strategy.
Deliveries and takeaways by value attracted 14% of total sales in April, a big decline from 24% in April 2022.
The consistent decline can be attributed to the boom in takeaway and delivery caused by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
However, the 1% decline compares with 6% in February and 3% in March, raising confidence that demand for deliveries and takeaways is starting to stabilise.
Year-on-year trading has been partly protected by rising menu prices, while volumes have fallen significantly.
Delivery order volumes in April were 10% below the same month in 2022, while takeaway and click-and-collect orders contracted by 9%.
Karl Chessell, CGA’s business unit director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA, said: “Seventeen successive year-on-year drops in delivery and takeaway sales partly reflects the steady return of consumers to restaurants since late 2021.
“But with our Coffer CGA Business Tracker showing only modest growth in eat-in sales during that time, amid very high inflation, there is no escaping the fact that total sales have been significantly down in real terms. Conditions will remain challenging for some time, but with signs that inflation and household bills may ease in the second half of 2023 we remain very confident about the long-term outlook for hospitality.”
