Eat Out To Help Out fuels food sales growth for pubs and restaurants

Food sales in UK pubs and restaurants have been given a well-needed boost thanks to the government’s ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme, according to new data.

Figures collected by data consultancy firm CGA, from pub and restaurant groups that collectively have 7000 sites, show that when the initiative started on Monday 3 August, food sales doubled from the previous Monday.

The scheme runs August 3-31 and offers people a discount of up to 50% on Mondays to Wednesdays when eating or drinking soft drinks in a participating restaurant, pub or cafe. A maximum of £10 discount per diner is available.

Firms, many of which have seen weaker footfall since reopening from lockdown, will deduct the money off the bill and claim it back from the government. Companies had to shut in March in line with government guidelines. Bars and restaurants were allowed to reopen from July 4, with social distancing measures in place.

CGA said sales on Tuesday 4 August and Wednesday 5 August were respectively 95% and 106% higher than a week earlier.

The firm’s consumer pulse survey added that two in five of those who have used Eat Out To Help Out were making their first visit to the sector since the end of lockdown.

Karl Chessell, business unit director for food and retail at CGA, said the data shows the scheme is “having the desired effect of boosting food sales for restaurants, pubs and others at a time when they need it most”.

Earlier this week Chancellor Rishi Sunak tweeted that in the first week of Eat Out To Help Out nearly 11 million meals were discounted.