Over the last year, higher operational costs have put a lot of pressure on restaurant owners to turn a profit, pay staff and retain customers who’ve said they’ve cut back on spending.
Restaurant leaders have turned to value and limited-time deals to keep foot traffic coming through the door. In fact, at least one third of all restaurant leaders we asked said they instituted eight different types of programmes for diners, from loyalty programme discounts (43%) to value items and combo deals (38%) to coupon codes (33%).
Many of these discounts have proved popular, but they’ve created new diner expectations. While diners told us they were generally satisfied with their experience in different restaurant formats (from 82% satisfaction with dine-in experiences to 72% satisfaction with delivery), nearly half of those consumers now expect restaurants to keep or add to their current value offerings over the next year.
But what diners expect and what they’re offered might not match up in 2025. That’s because 71% of restaurant leaders told us they plan to increase their prices over the next 12 months, likely because of the increase in employer National Insurance contributions and the reduction in business rates relief, both due to come into effect in April.
While this conflict won’t necessarily lead to more people eating at home, it will likely force restaurant operators to become amateur mathematicians (even more than they already are) to make sure they’re protecting their margins while offering customers a taste of the discounts they crave.
