Opinion: The power of three

Louis Devane-Waters, consultant for Savanta, on a trio of exciting trends to look out for...

After a turbulent few years for the eating out sector, with several challenges to face and various obstacles to overcome, Savanta has identified three big eating out trends that we expect to see coming to prominence.

1. Doubling down on quality
Improving customers’ value for money will let brands stand out as premium during the recession. Even though instinct dictates cutting costs in a race to the bottom, the way to go is doubling down on quality in order to appease consumers.

BrandVue, our syndicated brand tracker, shows Rosa’s Thai Café nearly doubled its net promoter score (NPS) from +12 to +23 from 2021 to 2022. Its improvement was centered around the quality of food– as well as the restaurant’s look and feel – ultimately delivering greater value for money to their customers.

Wahaca have also grown its advocacy year-on-year in two separate ways. First, it has prioritised food quality, with ‘freshness of the food’ and ‘quality of ingredients’ perceptions rising above its competitors during 2022. The second has been prioritising the dine-in experience, as enhancing the indoor experience can boost advocacy, despite how the brand looks across takeaway and delivery channels.

2. Set menus
Set menus are likely to be a growing trend in 2023. With rising inflation, supply chain issues and a labour shortage, shorter menus enable restaurants to stay profitable and still serve a number of dishes, letting them focus on the quality and consistency of the food.

NPS for lots of restaurants had dipped throughout 2022, with PizzaExpress plummeting from +41 in January to +30 in December. The labour shortage led to restaurants recruiting inexperienced members of staff, and the subsequent decline in service ratings were partially culpable for the decline in advocacy. 

The move to a more focused menu can take pressure off food service and enable operators to focus on other areas of the customer experience, to ensure they leave with smiles on their faces.

3. Plant-based food and sustainability initiatives
Plant-based and sustainability initiatives have been at the forefront of restaurants’ activity for the past few years, and it looks like 2023 will be no different.

Last year, Julie Vigne, senior director for Savanta, wrote about how Costa had announced a move to plant-based cups and lids, which saw its environmentally friendly ratings double to 14%. Fast-food giant Burger King followed suit in October, with its Don’t blow your lid campaign – removing plastic lids altogether from soft drinks served to customers dining in. This saw its environmentally friendly rating quadruple on BrandVue in the space of a month.

Plant-based initiatives are on the up too, as Burger King transformed its flagship Leicester Square store to become meat-free for a week in March 2022. It also launched a pop-up plant-based restaurant in Bristol in October, as part of its pledge to become 50% meat-free by 2030.

We can expect to see more of this going forward, as an increasing number of people become ‘flexitarian’ and reduce their meat consumption. BrandVue shows us that in December 2019, 78% of respondents had no dietary requirements, falling to 63% in December 2022 as people are actively changing their eating habits.

A tough market requires operators to reassess the ways in which they can make themselves stand out going forward. Brands looking to enter the hospitality sector will need to thoroughly understand what the modern diner expects, and consider what will cut through in an already saturated market.

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