Closure of click & collect takeaway meals would be "devastating"
Closing click & collect would wipe £300+ million a month from Britain’s takeaway trade, The NPD Group has warned.
The statement comes as the takeaway industry waits to hear whether a government-imposed closure of click & collect takeaway meals will come into force as part of tighter coronavirus measures.
According to The NPD Group, which tracks consumer spending in the UK eating out sector, in the month of November 2020, total click & collect takeaway, whether ordered by app, online or telephone, was worth £328m. That’s 13% of total spend on out of home eating in November.
App/online only ordering in November 2020 was worth £131m, 5% of total spend on all out of home eating.
In the 12 months to November 2020, click & collect for takeaways (ordered by app, online or telephone) was worth £2.9bn, 7% of total spend on out of home eating. Click & Collect grew +45% in the three months to November 2020 period, to represent 9% of total spend, as consumers switched buyer behaviour, and operators became more reliant on this order channel for trade during lockdowns and tiering.
In the three months to Nov 2020, the total takeaway market (click & collect as well as walk up orders) declined -27% to a value of £13.7bn. That is 3.4bn visits, down -42% on 2019.
Dominic Allport, insights director (foodservice), The NPD Group, says: “The impact of a Government imposed closure of click & collect takeaway meals would be devastating to the restaurant trade, especially the small independents that so many Brits frequent up and down the country.
"Many of these operators have invested heavily to continue to provide takeaway meals to their customers during an extremely challenging time, and the public has responded by increasing their use of click & collect. It’s no exaggeration to say that for the local restaurants particularly, click & collect is now the difference between survival and closure.”
The Scottish government is expected to be the first to rule on the subject with an announcement looking likely this afternoon.