Restaurateurs urged to keep costs low

18 August 2009
Restaurateurs urged to keep costs low

Restaurant operators must tighten the purse strings for the rest of the year even if they see an upturn in trade, research has warned.

Market analyst Horizons has warned that even if the economy improves, corporate spend is likely to remain low as businesses will take a longer term view and exercise restraint when it comes to corporate entertainment and Christmas parties.

"Restaurant operators shouldn't rely on an increase from corporate spend over the next few months, as companies will still be reluctant to spend money on entertaining, particularly if they are also making redundancies," said Horizons' managing director Peter Backman.

He added that operators must continue to negotiate good deals from their suppliers, put more cost-effective dishes on menus, reduce food wastage and ensure staff levels are kept to a minimum.

"Restaurateurs face further pressure in January when VAT returns to 17.5%. This will impose an increase of 2.1% across the board of items including meals eaten out, but not supermarket food, which will widen the value gap between eating out and eating at home," he said.

More diners are eating out but are spending less, says survey >>

Eating out spend set to fall after record high >>

Recession sparks changes in US dining >>

By Emma White

E-mail your comments to Emma White here.

If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.caterersearch.com/tabletalk

Caterersearch.com jobs
Looking for a new job? Find your next restaurant job here with Caterersearch.com jobs

Blogs on Caterersearch.com](http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs) Catch up with more news and gossip on all Caterer's blogs
[Newsletters For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our e-mail newsletters.
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking