Are you eating out less?

[Solasum]

I work in London, and the lunchtime cafes etc are still very busy, though it seems to me mainly with a young demographic. As a household though, we are definitely eating out and getting take away less. It just doesn’t seem worth it unless it is something really special.

In your local area, is there evidence of people majorly cutting back?

If anyone works in hospitality, have things changed a lot in recent years?

Not a journalist, just curious.

I am eating out much less than I used to. Mainly due to the cost. I was out with a friend last weekend and ordered something I usually order in the place we were in. It was a main course and normally I would be full after it. This time was the portion was less than half the size than normal and I went home and made a sandwich.

I eat out less now due to other reasons (as in DF died, so DM brings dog, so where we can go is limited).
But prices going up and portions going down has been a thing for a while. Even if we could afford it, we were getting less and less for our money.

Also eating out a lot less here, and for all the reasons stated above about cost and value, etc., but also, as a vegetarian, unless it's a vegetarian restaurant, they just don't offer anything interesting. Friends want to meet us at a popular restaurant and I'm already dreading it. The starters are either seasoned beets (I imagine this is some kind of salad but they only mentioned beets) or a baked camembert, and the main is either a mushroom stroganoff or somehing else based around one single vegetable. All for the crazy price of £45 not including a drink. When we eat at home, we throw all the vegetables in along with some kind of bean or pulse. I used to be a meat eater but I still liked eating all of the vegetables and beans and pulses rather than having just one as some kind of star of the meal. Where I feel there is still good food being produced tends to be in the vegetarian and vegan places now, but the costs are soaring.

I eat out as much but at different places.

Very infrequent traditional cafes and coffee shops.

Now two Chinese cafes have opened near where I live, one is walkable and the other is a short drive I had chicken in black bean sauce with a lemon tea earlier today for £12. It’s cooked fresh and nice add excellent value.

Or I go to one of 3 local pubs who have offers on frequently. One has a carvery and a small carvery is £12.

I do not have a sweet tooth especially but coffee and cake for £8 to £10 versus a proper dinner for £12 it’s an easy choice.

A new cafe has opened near me it offers lots of fancy coffees and matcha drinks but favoured with other stuff, just a drink is a fiver.

If I need to buy food on the go I look for an Aldi as their lunch stuff is good and cheap.

Yes, definitely. Just can't justify the crazy prices.

No, but then we eat out very little anyway.

Too expensive especially as we live in a tourist spot!

Absolutely! I’m bringing my own lunches into work (and am annoyed with myself for not doing this sooner), eating out far less, due to cost and declining quality. Rarely get take aways for myself anymore, cutting back on take away coffees too. Am saving myself a fortune.

I’m working part time apart from 1 day full time so I eat before I leave home. There’s no Pret only M&S in a garage and Greggs and no nearby pub. I have a McDonalds breakfast on my full time day. So I’m supposedly saving money.

Yes, we’re eating out a lot less-like
others I refuse to pay £££ for poor quality food & £4 for a take out coffee is just ridiculous.

The takeaway’s near us are terrible so don’t get those either-I’d rather eat cheese on toast!

We have a couple of local places where the food is locally sourced, cooked
from scratch etc but you’re looking at over £100 for 2 courses & a bottle of wine for 2 people.

We’re eating out much less and have stopped having takeaways. We’ve also been cutting back on many other discretionary spending things. It’s not lack of money, but we’re just completely fed up of being expected to pay more and more for poor quality goods and services. We’re just not going to participate any more!

I didn't really eat out that much to start with, but I did work in hospitality until recently and worked in a popular tourist town, so that might skew my answer but honestly the place has just got busier post covid, parking became an absolute nightmare and everywhere was heaving, they still came, but by God did they moan about it, and usually to people like me, doing the job of 2 people for a wage you can barely survive on. You can't provide enough people with enough skill for great service or decent food and portions for the prices people want to pay for it. The sums just don't add up. And the constant negativity gets to you eventually, I've seen the most upbeat people lose their spark in hospitality, the fun and the great customers used to make up for the shit wages and crap conditions and the occasional arsehole, but in the last 6 years people seem to just want to go out specifically to complain, not have a good time and forget their worries for a while.

Everyone knows that prices for food, utilities, wages have done nothing but increase recently, but somehow people have a mental block when it comes to hospitality and those prices increasing. Add to that the real struggle to keep hold of decent staff because of the pay, conditions and the way you're treated and it's hardly surprising that prices go up, or quality goes down, thriving places have closed near me recently, over the last two years really, not because they weren't busy, but even busy they couldn't make ends meet. Places are having to offer more money to get and keep people, which of course increases prices more.

I've got a lot of friends in hospitality and as much as it's becoming poor value to eat out, a wage you can barely live on for ridiculous hours, listening to constant bitching from people who behave like You've held a gun to their head to make them come in rather than it being their choice, or trying to balance the books is not worth it either.

Yes. Cutting back on eating out has saved us a small fortune and fairly painlessly too.

We eat out a couple of times a week. Everywhere we go seems busy. We live in a pretty affluent area.

We eat out quite a bit, mainly meeting up with friends, but where we used to have 3 courses, we now just have a main, and sometimes share a dessert. They are too big for us anyway. We also look out for offers, we are out on Friday to a restaurant nearby that has a Friday Steak Night, 8oz fillet with chips and veg for £22, and its a good restaurant. They have offers every midweek night and are always busy. When we chatted with the manager their premise is that they rather be busy as it keeps the staff motivated, keeps them happy and its a win for all.

We ate out about 3 months ago at the local pub, fish (hake) and chips - £16 each.. I really didn't like the hake either!
Came to almost £85 for four meals and a round of drinks.
Local farm shop cafe is really lovely but starts at £12 for a toastie & £13-15 for a sarnie and crisps!
So yes, we eat a lot less than we used to..

Yes much less. I took the kids to a pub for lunch the other day and it cost us over £80 for 1 adult and 3 children (one ordered from the adult menu), even a trip to a cafe yesterday cost us over £20 for 4 drinks (3 cans of coke and a cup of flavoured milk) a croissant and a slice of cake.
That said I dont remember having a take away or eating out unless it was someone's birthday as a child.

I'm glad you aren't eating the carbon part hee hee 🤣😁

Eating out less, yes. Can afford it but begrudge it for food that isn't that great.

Happy to spend on a good meal though!

We live in a relatively affluent area and places are still noticeably quieter for eating. The drinkers not so much!

Way less. Because quality and service have really declined.

We're eating out less as a couple. Not always because of money as sometimes a night in is just as expensive! Mostly cause I'm fed up with the shit food. Everything covered in chilli etc. our local used to do beautiful food, now the only thing thats isn't chilli is blooming fish and chips. We pretty much go to our local italian on a friday night which does a steak deal for £20, sirloin, chips, sauce and mushrooms with a cocktail!

Yes but not really to save money.

It was just becoming a habit most weekends and it's never particularly great. Same for takeaway, we always regret getting a takeaway these days, it just doesn't hit the spot it used to!

Far too expensive. Never ever eat out in the UK. One glass of wine costs a fortune- in France or Italy we can have a lovely meal with wine for less than €50

Definitely eating out less. I just don’t really enjoy it that much anymore. Different on holiday. These days if it’s someone’s birthday I would much rather cook and have people over, or go to someone else’s for the same or a take away. When I cook the food is better and it costs less and we end up having a nicer evening because people relax more and it isn’t cut short by paying the bill or a weird atmosphere.

I used to love going out to eat but now I only find it worth it in three circumstances:

• I am on holiday
• It’s a really fancy place and I am paying extra for the experience
• It’s a really cheap place (few and far between) with surprisingly fine food where I appreciate the break but don’t resent £18.50 spent on a mediocre burger. There’s a place in town still charging 2015 prices and while it’s not “nice”, I find it to be reliably decent food and worth it economically - as do others as it is always busy!

No aren’t eating out less but as other posters have said, instead of having 2 courses plus coffee, we now have a main and then share a pudding and skip coffee.
So we’re spending about the same amount but eating less courses.