Delivery, takeaway sales remain “booming” in May: CGA

Both channels were worth virtually half of managed groups' sales.

May’s delivery and takeaway sales at Britain’s restaurant and pub groups were 273% higher than in May 2019, according to CGA’s latest Hospitality at Home Tracker.

The consultancy group said the new figure is down on the Tracker’s 2021-on-2019 growth of 345% in April, following the reopening of hospitality for dine-in in the second half of May. 

However, it argues that this was an indication that deliveries and takeaways are “certain to remain a much more significant element” of groups’ operations than they were before COVID-19 hit.

CGA’s Tracker also shows growth in delivery sales was more than twice as high as takeaways, citing the “rising popularity” of third party delivery platforms. Combined, they accounted for 49.7% of restaurant and pub groups’ sales in May.

Karl Chessell, CGA’s business unit director - hospitality operators and food, EMEA, said: “With the quality and convenience of at-home ordering rising, the lockdowns of the last 15 months have firmly embedded it in people’s habits. It will be fascinating to see where the balance of eating-out and ordering-in settles as COVID-19 restrictions loosen.”