The UK foodservice industry is a rapidly changing dynamic environment where understanding price trends is crucial to success. Meaningful Vision’s meticulous analysis of market data identifies the opportunities and the challenges awaiting fast-food retailers in 2024.
Let’s take a look at how price changes and inflation impacted different menu categories in the 12-month period from April 2023 to April 2024.
Overall food price inflation shows signs of relief, dropping from 12% for food and 11% for beverages in December 2023, to 7% and 6% respectively by April 2024. However, food items are subject to slightly higher inflation when compared to beverages. Cheaper menu items priced below £2 experienced the highest inflation rate at 9%, while items priced above £15 showed the lowest growth at only 4%.
Meaningful Vision’s research reveals price increases are unlikely to be introduced uniformly across an entire menu, but are generally applied at different rates to the various menu sub-categories. For example, cold drinks, sandwiches, and snacks lead with the highest price increases of around 9-10% in April compared to the previous year. By contrast, breakfast items (6%), savoury bakery products (5%), and pizza (3%) experienced slower price growth.
Meaningful Vision CEO, Maria Vanifatova, comments: “Value-oriented promotions highlighting budget-friendly menu items can be particularly effective in attracting cost-conscious consumers. Differentiated pricing strategies that consider the varying inflation rates across categories are a useful tool. Additionally, meal deals, promotions, and a focus on value-oriented offerings can help stimulate demand and offset potential declines in foot traffic. Our insights underscore the importance of strategic pricing in maintaining consumer confidence, despite the challenging economic environment the remainder of 2024 promises for both businesses, and their customers.”
Learn more about how Meaningful Vision’s solutions and price intelligence can help your business navigate these challenging times.
