Delivery, takeaway sales triple pre-COVID levels for restaurants, pubs

CGA’s Hospitality at Home Tracker reveals June income up 225% from June 2019.

Despite the return of eating out, deliveries and takeaways remain a core part of managed restaurant and pub groups’ sales, according to CGA’s latest Hospitality at Home Tracker.

Sales in June were 225% higher than in June 2019, a drop on growth figures of 345% in April and 273% in May, said to reflect the return of the majority of restaurants and pubs for the first full month of indoor service of 2021 in June.

Whilst some consumers have opted to start dining in, deliveries and takeaways accounted for 35% of managed operators’ total sales in June, with eat-in contributing the remaining 65%.

The Tracker also showed that 2021-on-2019 growth in groups’ delivery sales was more than four times as high as takeaways, citing the emergence of third party ordering platforms in recent years.

“The restaurant and pub delivery market has flourished during the lockdowns of the last 16 months, and while growth has slowed from the period of forced closures, it is going to stay a very big part of managed groups’ sales,” said Karl Chessell, CGA’s business unit director - hospitality operators and food, EMEA.

“We can expect to see more people revert to eating and drinking out now that COVID restrictions have been eased, but some consumers will not want to give up their new order-from-home habits. Juggling the three elements of eat-in, take-out and third-party delivery is going to be a big operational priority over the remainder of 2021 and beyond. Those that get it right can maximise this revenue stream without diluting dine in sales.”