Quick service restaurants now account for half of all food eaten out of the home, although their rise has been at the expense of restaurants in the workplace and education.
A survey by the food service research company NPD Group said the data pointed to a trend of changing habits among British consumers, with a four percentage-point increase in the use of quick service restaurants since 2008. The rise means that consumers made 5.5 billion visits to these outlets in 2011, compared with 5.5 billion in 2008.
Lunch has driven expansion in the quick-service market, accounting for 72% of the sector’s growth and a 7% increase in the number of visits since 2008.
While quick service has been growing, the restaurants experiencing the greatest drop are those in the workplace and education sector – whose share of the market has shrunk by 2.6 percentage points – from 19.5% in 2008 to 16.9% in the year ending September 2011.
NPD attributed the decline in this sector to quick-service restaurant chains offering menu options, promotions and discounts that attract workers away from their office or campus and into their restaurants
Source NPD Food Service Research & Catering & Hotelkeeper.
