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Eating out to see 2% growth in 2015, says Horizons

Published:  12 January, 2015

The eating-out sector is likely to continue growing at the same rate as 2014 in the coming year, says foodservice consultancy Horizons.

The eating-out sector is likely to continue growing at the same rate as 2014 in the coming year, says foodservice consultancy Horizons.

The UK's restaurants, hotels, quick service dining outlets, cafés, contract caterers and takeaways saw sales improve around 2% during 2014.

"It won't be a meteoric rise this year, but sales are likely to see steady growth if consumer confidencecontinues to improve, prompting a rise in average spend," said Horizons' managing director Peter Backman.

But Backman said issues as wide ranging as the Ebola virus, Islamic extremism and the upcoming General Election could affect confidence and thus limit growth.

He predicted 2015's champions would be juice bars, Mexican street food outlets, bakeries and coffee shops.

"We envisage this trend continuing as entrepreneurial operators come up with novel ideas for brands. It is these operators who will bring new food trends to the market by renting small, cost-effective spaces that larger brands can't," said Backman.

Horizons also foresees more acquisition as bigger operators eye up smaller firms. "The larger players are now at the point where they will start to ask where further growth will come from. The eating out market in some sectors is reaching saturation and overseas expansion is difficult for most, so acquisition through 2015 and into 2016 is the obvious answer. Investors are much keener on the eating out sector than they were and obtaining finance for deals will get easier," he said.

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