Diners drinking more tap water at restaurants
People are drinking more tap water across the spectrum of foodservice, but particularly within full service restaurants, according to the latest data.
The NPD Group calculates there were 11.2 billion visits to all foodservice establishments in the UK in 2015, with people drinking tap water at 3.8% of visits. That equates to 422 million servings in 2015, up from 362 million in 2010, an increase of 16.7% over five years, according to its figures.
Across full service restaurants, the increase was more marked. In 2010, the company claims 71.7 million glasses of water were served, increasing 32.7% to 95.2 million servings in 2015.
The company said soft drink consumption had also increased over the same period so could not conclude that water was replacing soft drinks. "Tap water is free so it is reasonable to expect that the figures would be much higher," said Jack MacIntyre, senior account manager at the group's UK Foodservice division.
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