U.K. Foodservice Posting Healthy Growth

As in the U.S., positive employment trends and low inflation in the U.K. are helping foodservice record the strongest growth since before the Great Recession, according to Horizons, a London-based foodservice research firm.

Speaking at the firm’s Annual Briefing March 10, Horizons Managing Director Peter Backman said nominal foodservice growth for 2014 was 3.8% with real growth of 2.9%, giving it a current value of  £46.6 billion ($68.9 million).

“More robust levels of consumer consumption have been prompted by the fact people are now less exposed to high levels of borrowing, are more certain of their jobs, and are buoyed by low inflation,” Backman said. “This is great news for the eating-out sector. We expect the market to continue to grow over the next five years, and factoring in the impact of inflation, it is likely to reach a new value of £56.3 billion ($83.3) by 2019.”

Chain operators are driving much of the growth, he added, especially pizza-delivery outlets, managed branded pubs, pub restaurants and coffee shops.

U.K. food trends noted by the firm include American regional specialties such as hot dogs and barbecue, Mexican cuisine and world cuisines such as Vietnamese, Peruvian and Egyptian.

Information on Horizons research can be found at hrzns.com. “””