Editor’s Comment

Pent-up demand needs an outlet

Ihave going-to-the-pub envy. It is the 13th of April and I have been chatting with John Mills, chairman (for a second time) of Hyperama (page 7), who was at the pub yesterday enjoying a beer in the sunshine after a round of golf. Like so many others, he celebrated the reopening of pubs with a proper pint.

Because I live in St Andrews, I will not be able to go to the pub until the 26th of April. That date is part of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s blueprint for Scotland to return to relative normality after months of lockdown restrictions that have crippled the hospitality sector.

No one knows exactly what the sales will look like as a result of the pent-up demand among consumers to eat out and drink out. Until people can be served indoors, the weather could influence the level of business, although many hospitality outlets now have covered and heated outdoor seating areas to protect their customers and staff from the vagaries of the British weather.

The wholesalers who spoke at a recent Arena webinar about the road to recovery (pages 12-13) were optimistic about the public’s eagerness to return to restaurants and pubs. Bidcorp’s CEO Andrew Selley said: “We are hopeful that it is going to go absolutely crazy”.

However, as Bestway’s MD Dawood Pervez pointed out, only about 38% of hospitality outlets have outdoor space and they will be limited by their capacity to serve customers safely.

As always, wholesalers will need to be agile and work with suppliers to provide their customers with the products they want, when they want them. Customers will use their wholesaler as their storeroom, predicted Country Range managing director Coral Rose. They will also want 100% availability and reduced minimum order quantities.

Brakes’ CEO Hugo Mahoney takes the view that the pre-COVID £1 of foodservice spend will still be worth £1 –it will just turn up in a different place. Brakes’ large workplace customers are expecting around a 60% return in the next 12 months, which is good news for hospitality outlets located close to offices, as well as workplace caterers.

Meanwhile, the cabin fever that some people feel when working from home could prompt them to look for another work base, such as a pub or a café now that they are opening, boosting business for those proprietors as well.

The COVID infection rate is clearly the main factor that will affect the success of hospitality reopening, and that in turn will depend to a large extent on how people behave. What is certain is that many publicans and restaurateurs are desperate for people to return, and I, for one, will be more than happy to oblige –as soon as I’m allowed.

Kirsti Sharratt Managing Editor

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