Global: Will inflation cause consumers to cut back on restaurant and takeaway spend?

Nearly three-quarters of global consumers (74%) find that the cost of food has increased significantly over the past six months. With inflation continuing to rise and household budgets bound to be squeezed, we ask consumers which areas they would first cut back on in the face of rising prices.

Of all the options given, eating out tops the list of activities consumers would cut back on. Three in five global consumers (60%) pick it as an area they are likely to cut back on to reduce household expenses. Takeaways (43%) are less likely to be impacted, but over two in five consumers will consider cutting back. It is edged out by travel (49%) and clothing (46%).

Eating out

Of all 18 markets in this survey, Italians (69%) register the highest number of consumers who say they will look at making cutbacks on eating out if their household budget is squeezed. Spain (67%) and Britain (64%) register slightly fewer consumers, but they are more likely than global respondents to cut down on eating out if faced with budgetary constraints.

In the North American markets, nearly seven in ten Canadians (69%) pick eating at restaurants or cafes as an area they will look at as they make cutbacks. In the US, a similar but slightly smaller proportion say the same (66%). On the other hand, Mexico (59%) is the only country in this region to register slightly lower than the global average.

Data from APAC reveals that most markets from this region are less likely to look at reducing their frequency of eating out. Australia (64%) and Singapore (61%) are the only countries to outpace the global average. While consumers in Hong Kong (54%), Indonesia (54%) and India (52%) are slightly less likely than global respondents to consider reducing their eating-out costs, still more than half the consumers in these markets say they will cut back in this area. China is the only place in all 18 markets where less than half its consumers pick eating out (48%).

Takeaways

When asked how often they order takeaway food, many global consumers said several times a week or month. However, if they must limit their monthly expenses, 43% of global consumers say they will look at cutting down on ordering takeaway.

In all the 18 markets studied in this survey, Great Britain registers the highest proportion of consumers who are likely to cut back on ordering takeaway (60%). Consumers in Denmark are almost as likely to cut back on eating out (55%) as they are on ordering takeaway (53%). Germany registers the lowest share of consumers in the European market (39%) who would cut back on takeaways.

Australia, with nearly three in five consumers (58%) saying they will cut back on takeaways, is placed second after Great Britain. Indonesia (50%) is the only other market in APAC to outpace the global audience's propensity to cut back on placing a take-out order. The rest of the countries fall below the proportion of global respondents who say they will curtail their takeaway orders. India registers slightly over a quarter of consumers (28%), the lowest in APAC.

While urban Mexicans are less likely than consumers in other North American markets to cut back on eating out, they are more likely to cut down on ordering takeaway (47%). Canada records 39% of consumers who pick 'takeaway’ as the area where they will cut costs. In the US, the share drops to 23%. It is the only market in the survey to register less than a quarter of consumers.

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Methodology: The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 508 and 2,065 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in May 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples.