NEWS
‘Eat out to help out’ scheme’s success questioned New findings from the British Chambers of Commerce’s quarterly economic survey indicate that the ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme, which ran throughout August and offered discounts on meals in pubs, restaurants and cafés, had a fairly marginal impact on the sector as a whole. The survey, which questioned 6,410 companies employing 580,000 staff, found that 66% of respondents in hospitality and catering reported a fall in sales and bookings between June and the end of September. For the hospitality sector, returning to normal is now bound to be a long process, but with the right support, it is an industry that will be vital to the future growth of the economy, employing 1.6million people, point out the British Chambers of Commerce.
Private equity investment has been one of the only areas able or willing to provide growth finance to businesses in this arena, who are looking to grow during lockdown, they observe. It is also a sector that has provided vital survival finance to firms unable to access any government support as many pubs were, they add. “Gimmicky schemes like ‘Eat out to help out’ will not help create longevity in the hospitality industry,” said Luke Davis, chief executive of SME investment firm IW Capital, and who believes a lot more needs to be done to help the hospitality industry to survive. “The sad truth is that in the hospitality sector, many businesses rely on packed spaces to make the most of custom. While the scheme may have helped to increase the number of bookings and
The UK’s favourite cuisines revealed A new study has revealed the favourite global cuisines in 15 major cities in the UK and the most Instagrammed dish from each. The research, conducted by meal kit delivery company HelloFresh, looked at the search demand for different cuisines in cities across England, Scotland, 10
Wales and Northern Ireland across a 12 month period. Of the 15 cities analysed, Chinese food is the most popular in four cities — Glasgow, Newcastle, Belfast and Plymouth — making it the UK’s overall favourite cuisine. Brits are also keen to share snaps of their food on social media. On
footfall during the month of August, the rise of COVID-19 cases since then means that people are once again nervous to go out and dine. “A real quick win and something that would give longevity to the sector would be to encourage investment, and allow hospitality businesses to qualify for EIS. To bring the sector back to life, it’s going to need a lot of investment. The government isn’t going to be able to stop the rot. You do need people to come along and buy up these assets, people who are willing to take the risk.” EIS is a government scheme that offers tax reliefs to individual investors who buy new shares in companies that qualify, but changes to the legislation in March 2018 mean that it is no longer applicable to the hospitality industry at large.
Instagram, fans of Italian food are most likely to share photos of pizzas (to date, there have been an incredible 55,600,000 pictures of pizza shared on the platform, the research found). In terms of the dishes we want to make at home, lasagne takes the top spot, with 70,000 people searching for a recipe each month. Other classic Italian dishes followed in second and third place, with 54,000 searches for pizza dough recipes and 31,000 searches for spaghetti Bolognese recipes. Speaking about the data, Andre Dupin, head chef at HelloFresh, commented: “It’s great to see that a range of global cuisines are so popular in the UK and that a growing number of Brits are cooking their favourite dishes at home. Lockdown changed the pace of life for many of us, giving us more time to explore our hobbies and interests. For some, this has meant spending more time in the kitchen, developing skills that we can benefit from long term.” To find out more, visit https://www. hellofresh.co.uk/grocery-delivery/uksfavourite-cuisines November 2020
