It’s set to be a tough winter - but diner attitudes can give us some hope.

With further price hikes and soaring energy bills looming - it’s a tense time for venues and operators worried about keeping their doors open this winter. 

And while operators are facing many challenges, so too are their customers. Here at OrderPay, we wanted to find out how the challenges we’re all facing could affect the nation’s dining habits, so we conducted a survey of diners in 6 major cities and asked them about their dining and takeaway preferences. 

In particular, we asked them about how these habits may change with future cost of living hikes ahead. What we found was a reassuringly more positive picture for the hospitality industry than we had expected.

Our findings show that over 90% of respondents were either concercerned or very concerned about price increases, but the amount of participants who planned to spend or visit venues less was much smaller comparatively. In London for example, over half of respondents expected their hospitality habits not to change. 

Interestingly, people were eager to let us know that supporting local venues was a priority for them. One participant said that “they visit venues less often, but the same ones rather than cheaper ones”. Another participant further explained that even though local venues “tend to be pricey”, they would continue to support them due to “how they struggled after lockdown”. 

Which is encouraging, as it seems for many venues, their locals aren’t going anywhere soon. In fact, we were pleased to see how much a priority dining and drinking out was for many. One participant commented that “eating out was their favourite pastime” and that they would “cut back elsewhere first”. Particularly in cities such as Cardiff, most participants would rather be mindful of their spending than simply cut down on visits altogether.

Furthermore, we gained some amazing insight into what venues can do to ensure a healthy footfall this winter. Deals and having set menus available online was a compelling draw -  but many also highlighted the importance of ambiance and experience. In short, people want their evenings to be memorable - and are willing to sacrifice other areas of recreational spending to ensure that.

You can see more of our research insights, alongside comments from our hospitality heavyweights from chains such as Tortilla in our upcoming whitepaper. As we’re looking to what the future holds for hospitality in 2023, and how technology can enable venues to tackle anything that’s thrown their way. 

Follow OrderPay on LinkedIn or Twitter to stay tuned for further updates!