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.

Yeah, there is some truth in that. But there are also a lor of places ...all sorts of different kinds of retail, entertainment, restaurants where they are just taking the piss.

Yes we are definitely. Very few takeaways and as a family we eat out once every few months when there’s a birthday or at Christmas,

I know a couple of people involved with restaurant management/investment. They are definitely not taking the piss. Energy and food costs have gone up massively. I’m not sure why people think these don’t apply to them too. Business rates and rents have also increased over the last few years and the cost of employing their staff has gone up so much too. They are not rolling in it at all and the one who owns their own establishment doesn’t really know how long he can carry on. He’s just looking a few months ahead at the moment.

In terms of time we eat out at fast food places once per week but it’s more to do with logistics of kids activities - 2 kids with 2 separate activities to be dropped off at. Drop one, take 2 for tea, drop 1, collect 1, take for tea, collect 2. Go home. The distance of the activity means we need to stay in the area as not worth the fuel to have early tea for 1 and drop off and go back to collect 2 to drop at their activity.

Have noticed the cost of fast food increasing more and more though so we are careful what we buy. I use points on app for one place, another place often has free something with a drink or me and one of the kids will share something as neither of us would eat the full thing.

We have just been to London though and nearly died at how much a fast food lunch would cost in some places for 3 of us. Walked out of one place when screen said £50!! Went and got a cheaper meal deal elsewhere.

No

A lot less. The quality has plummeted but the costs escalated. Main meal (pizza) and soft drink for lunch with tip at a chain restaurant for £25 each. I’d rate that meal 4/10 for value for money and taste.

3 courses for 2 adults, 2 children with one alcoholic drink for the adults each and tip for a very mediocre dinner was £200 last week. 5/10.

Eating out is not worth it anymore. I’ve invited my friend around for a COOK meal instead!

No, but then it’s only me to pay for. I’m choosy where to go and as well as the food, I enjoy knowing someone else is cooking, serving and washing up. It’s irrelevant I can (and mostly do) cook more cheaply and at the same level at home. I eat out a few times a month (nothing high end), coffees most days.

Yes, but we didn't eat out that much, we swapped to takeaways, these have risen in price so much we are having less takeaways.

I think takeaways are even worse value and there always seems to be lots of clearing up in our house after an Indian or Chinese.

We don’t eat out a lot, but I can’t say I’ve ever found this to be a thing. Waiting staff are always very pleasant.

(And at least not yelling NOT A PROBLEM! every time you say thank you for anything, like we experienced/suffered in Oz….

One of the reasons we rarely eat in pubs these days is the belief most of their meals are bought in, ready prepared. Suppliers like Bidfood offer a huge range of convenience meals to the catering trade, and while it's easy to understand it's cost-effective and efficient, we prefer to pay more in restaurants which employ a chef (and even then, it would be naive to think everything on the menu is cooked from scratch).

In our area, pub menus are almost identical - slow-roast pork belly, steak and ale pie, lasagne, etc, etc.

So yes, we eat out less because we'd rather not pay a small fortune for mass-produced meals and £40 for a bottle of quite ordinary wine.

In Melbourne and eat two kinds of meals out of the home:

Local cafes who are much of muchness but OK about four times a year
Very good indeed restaurants in the CBD for special occasions.

Haven't had a takeaway in nearly 12 years.

I hardly ever buy a thing food-wise out and about with my little boy if I can help it- although I might treat him to an ice cream or a lolly. Everything else is prepared at home, lunch, snacks, I’ll even take my own coffee, and I get those little squash drops that you add to water for him. Days out are expensive enough with regards to very fees etc (although we do lots of free and low cost activities too, like London museums, but a day’s travel is still £16 to get there and back) , gone are the days where I can justify £6/7 on a sandwich and £4+ for coffee in a cafe. At an English Heritage place recently it was £12 for a jacket potato, £9 for soup and a roll!

The one place we do eat at semi regularly is Wetherspoons for breakfast, no I don’t feel good about the ethics but when you can get 2 decent breakfasts with juice and coffee with change from a tenner, I can get over it.

Only a bit.
There are a few really reliable restaurants when I live where the quality and service is always really good so even with the price increases, it’s worth it for date night to us.
We also have some very reliable takeaways so do still order but probably a bit less than previously - due to health reasons more than anything else though 🤣

We are getting less takeouts, we would usually get one on a Saturday, but the quality has nosedived and the prices risen. Feeling like it’s just not worth it.

Eating out has almost doubled in price and we are also very choosy where we go and when now and if the service doesn’t match the price we don’t return.

I'd say so - and to be honest I can cook better mesls at home than we've had recently. We go out once a month, usually to a local pub, or chain restaurant, and occasionally somewhere really special.

For instance - £84 at Prezzo last week for DH, DD and me (with a discount...) for nothing special. Putting it into perspective that's a weeks worth of food shopping for a meal that was fair at best.

A few weeks prior we went to a local pub, Sunday Roast that was just under £100 for the three of us. Lovely atmosphere, but definitely not good value.

I like eating out, maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy but I could have made both meals at home.

I know I'm paying for the privilege of having someone else, prep, cook, serve and clear up but when you factor those costs in, it doesn't feel worth it for what you get.

Trying to yes. So expensive now, we still eat out but not as much and I look for deals / money off / special offers as much as possible now.

Yes. Everything is so much more £££ and I haven’t eaten out anywhere recently that’s been remarkable. All run of the mill even in places I used to really like.
Never buy anything in eg Costa anymore.
It’s easily £25/30 for a Sunday roast , I know someone who owns a pub he said his costs have gone up massively and he simply has to pass some of that on to his customers.
For a family of four with older kids , you’re looking at £200 for a meal out.

I can’t stand businesses that resell ready made food, give themselves a fancy name, and charge ridiculous prices while people think they’re paying for quality. I have no problem paying more, but the quality and the work behind the food have to justify the price.

Besides the fact that I can make restaurant "Copy Cat" meals at home and control fat and sodium, it actually saves time as well as money. Time is the reason I never did go out too often. To go out, we have to get dressed for "out", drive there, wait to be seated, wait for menus, wait to put an order in, wait for food to arrive, wait for the bill, drive home. When I was working, it seemed a waste of my time, because going out to eat could easily take up two hours. Now, in retirement, I can prep meals ahead, cook in my "house clothes" and after we eat, load the dishes into the dishwasher and enjoy the rest of the evening. Eating out is for having foods we can't make at home.

We’ve almost completely stopped getting takeaways, mostly because we admitted we were enjoying them less. We used to also go for Nando’s as a ‘cheap’ meal out but realised we can actually get a lovely meal in a local restaurant (family owned rather than a chain) for the same money. We go frequently now, probably every second weekend on average.
2 adults and a toddler, we only get mains because the portions are huge. Toddler gets a great value kids meal and an ice cream and I usually have a glass of wine. £45-£50
The place is always packed, there’s never a free table so they’re obviously on to something.
Menu has great choice and also if having a more expensive treat, their fillet steaks are miles better than any extortionate steakhouse I’ve eaten in. A proper 10oz chunk of meat with a large portion of sauce/sides and it’s about £15 cheaper than the tiny little 6oz ones you get in some places!
I don’t grudge paying more going elsewhere an odd time or for a special occasion as we are a family that enjoys eating out but can see why many are cutting back.

Tend to go out for lunch with DH rather than dinner these days.

Tend to have one main course and avoid expensive starters/desserts that are usually tiny. There are a couple of independents that do a good set price lunch menu but otherwise one course only.

Or just go for morning coffee with friends and literally just have the coffee, then go for a walk to chat more so we are not hogging a table.

Only very very rarely have a takeaway these days as the quality is disappointing. I think we’ve had one this year so far and that was because we were so late getting back from a delayed flight we couldn’t face doing anything else and picked it up on the way home.

I used to think nothing of eating out in cheap places like Harvester or Spoons with DD after school or going to McDonald's, but now I hardly go there at all. McDonald's has got so expensive and the burgers are really rubbish compared to a new take away which is only slightly more expensive. Harvester has gotten more expensive, so it's not a cheap meal any more.

We now tend to only eat out for lunch and birthdays. We went to a lovely Indian for my niece's birthday recently, and lunch was around £15 per head. I've discovered a lovely independent Italian restaurant which does a three course lunch for £19.99 with big portions and excellent service; it is always busy.

There are endless new take aways opening in my town, they tend to be either dessert shops or serving the same burgers, loaded chips etc so it seems like there are some people spending a lot on take aways.

Oh don’t get me started on McDonald’s! They’ve effectively killed off their own, very successful business model, which was 3 things-
cheap
tasty
fast

it’s not cheap any more in terms of what you get. It’s not tasty. The patties they use are flat as pancakes, the cheese is never melted properly since they assemble to order, chips are often cold and resemble cardboard, and as they don’t have anything ready to go anymore everything takes ages. They’ve splashed their reward system, in app offers and feedback perks too. Really just not worth it anymore.

We never had deliveries at all until we discovered The Good Earth and our local didn't have a sit down restaurant and we enjoyed the delivered food. They had a man who had worked for them for years.

They're now using Deliveroo who I will certainly never use. So, no more Good Earth deliveries.

I am in London and we eat out much less these days. It's partly because of having young dcs (they prefer to graze on picnic food inbetween running around in parks) but mainly because of poor quality and service, it doesn't feel like a treat or value for money. We try to eat out on birthdays so that's about 5 times a year, plus we'll occasionally eat out for convenience but generally we bring a packed lunch as it's quicker and better quality (finances not an issue). We visit the US once a year and the service is always very good, in London I'm always kept waiting ages to order, having to remind a waiter of missing items, and wait to pay the bill.

Even when we do eat out I'll usually order just a main and drink tap water, no dessert, starter or sides. Most desserts aren't much better than you can get in a premium supermarket range (same for some main dishes too).

However all the restaurants and cafes around me are heaving (we are in a touristy bit of zone 2), restaurants are packed, tables spilling onto the pavements (and blocking the path for peoe who just want to walk home). I get that it's a nice sociable thing to do with friends so it makes more sense if you are meeting up with people. I'd much rather go to a restaurant than go for dinner in someone's home (or have people in my home). But I don't really socialise much, just spend time with family so it's not an issue.