Lies, downright lies and statistics!
If, like me you like ‘informed gossip’ can I recommend the yougov survey site? It’s packed with fact about what we think and what we do. I particularly like the food elements of the surveys. The results help me look at food trends so that bartlett mitchell can stay ahead of the game.
Anyway I thought you’d all like to know that the recession is officially over. This means those recessionary trends of online recipe forums, home cooked meals and cutting back on luxuries could be a thing of the past, with 67% of Londoners saying that they eat out at least once a month.
Almost half of Londoners (46%) eat out at a restaurant or get a take-away at least once a week and this figure rises to 76% for 18-24 year olds. However when looking at favourite types of restaurant, a clear gender divide emerges. 20% of men in London say Indian food as their preference, in contrast to only 13% of women opting for a curry as their favourite meal. Italian food is the food of choice for London women, with 22% choosing Italian as their favourite type of restaurant.
For us at bartlett mitchell it's really useful to know that British food is worrying low down on the list for younger generations, with only 4% of 18-24 year olds choosing home-grown specialities as their meal of choice. This means that in a few years we’ll be seeing a drop in eating trends of those ‘traditional dishes’. The tradition of British food is appreciated more by older generations, with 21% of over 55s in London opting for British cuisine as their favourite type of restaurant. Makes you wonder what our menus will be looking like in 10 years time (I need to plan ahead!)
The rise in popularity of discount vouchers may have contributed to the increasing numbers of Londoners who enjoy a meal out on a regular basis. 61% of respondents use vouchers to get money off their meal in restaurants and almost three quarters (73%) of 18-24 year olds use the voucher schemes. We need to learn something from this.
When choosing where to eat out, it seems that reviews are an important part of the decision making process. 60% of Londoners read reviews before visiting restaurants, with websites such as toptable, Square Meal offering a real insight into the opinions of diners. Women place more importance on reading reviews than their male counterparts (perhaps because they do most of the organising), with 64% of London women reading reviews compared to 55% of men in the capital.
So now you know where I get my food trends from! All this information, as interesting as it seems, allows me to advise our clients about what their restaurant will be looking like in 5 or 10 years time. Don't you just love catering?
