In post-pandemic Britain offices across the country are busy once again with hungry workers eager to start their day with something to eat and drink. The latest data from Meaningful Vision reveals H1 of 2024 saw a 13.6% boost to morning traffic (before midday) eclipsing the afternoon peak and with breakfast now boasting a substantial 27% share of daily footfall.
The Champions of Breakfast
The most popular formats serving breakfast in the UK are bakery and sandwich shops, both of whom enjoyed a significant uptick in traffic during early (6-9am) and mid-morning (9-12pm) slots in H1 2024. Coffee shops are also contributing to the trend with a 10% increase in early morning visits. Notably, despite fewer overall customers, the 6-9am period attracted twice as many new customers when compared to the 9-12am slot.
The Breakfast Burger Bonanza
The burger segment boasts a 36% increase in morning traffic with customers taking advantage of breakfast menus featuring frequent promos, a widening variety of choices, and attractive prices. This rapid growth firmly establishes burger chains among the major players during the morning period.
Afternoon Traffic
Footfall in the afternoon period shows more modest growth, with chicken shops emerging as the key driver of traffic growth between 12pm and 3pm and contributing the largest volume of traffic to the overall afternoon peak.
Evening Challenges
The evening and night-time periods appear to pose a challenge for operators, with a 12% decline in traffic. This trend underscores the urgent need for innovative strategies to revitalise traffic during these dayparts.
CEO of Meaningful Vision Maria Vanifatova emphasises the critical importance to restaurants of understanding these evolving consumer patterns, stating. Overall foodservice traffic growth for 2024 is flat, but footfall in the morning period bucks this trend, and for a number of reasons. Offices are busy with people once again with demand for morning essentials like coffee and sandwiches remaining strong. Chains offering excellent value, frequent new offerings and money saving promotions are performing well with a growing market. Access to detailed, up-to-date, and accurate market data is essential to creating successful promotions and maintaining the competitive prices currently attracting the most customers.”
