A new hospitality and leisure report by Barclays has found that UK restaurants, bars and leisure clubs could make a further £6.75bn per year by adapting opening hours to changing consumer working patterns.
Britain's high street is suffering from weak consumer spending and fierce competition. There are simply so many options for consumers to choose from when going out. It seems that most leisure streets now have at least a couple of dining options.
Add to this the rise of food delivery services such as Deliveroo and Just Eat, if restaurants fail to adapt to trends and customer demands, they risk falling behind their competition.
The report states that restaurants, takeaway meal outlets and pubs, bars and clubs could make an extra 5.5 billion pounds in revenue each year by adjusting their opening hours.
How adjusting hours would help
The need for alternative hours for restaurants and dining options is fuelled by the 57 per cent of British workers who work extended hours, part-time or flexibly. With fewer working the traditional 9-5 working day, the times at which people want to dine out or visit the gym are changing.
Almost one in five late-night diners would choose to get a takeaway between 11pm and 5am, when most restaurants are closed. This number rises to 37 per cent amongst 18-24-year-olds. A third of this age-group also expect 24-hour services across the hospitality and leisure sector.
If businesses responded to these demands, restaurants would expect to take an extra £2.2bn in revenue per year, takeaways £2.1bn and pubs, bars and clubs £1.2bn.
The most common barrier for extending opening hours is increased overheads but it is worth operators trialling the system. A restaurant could stay open two hours later than usual for takeaway orders and see how their customers behave for a one-month period. If it proves popular and it makes logistical sense, extend the new operation for another couple of months.
With many customers willing to pay a premium for services at unusual hours, businesses that find ways to meet this growing demand could take advantage of a large opportunity. It’s all about meeting the demands of consumers and staying ahead of the competition.
Restaurant furniture
Each restaurant and bar will have different needs and requirements depending on the image they’re trying to present. Whatever space you are working with, it is nearly always possible to alter the ambience of a space with careful manipulation of design elements.
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