2010 looking good for UK restaurants

The extreme winter weather conditions may have hampered the UK restaurant trade in the early weeks of 2010, but that hasn’t stopped the industry feeling optimistic about the year ahead.

The latest monthly Restaurant Barometer survey from Business Link revealed how the UK’s emergence from the recession at the end of last year resulted in more positive outlooks among restaurateurs across the country.

Just under 60% now expect to see takings increase this year compared to 2009, with 70% saying they are not expecting to have to offload any staff over the course of the year. Indeed, 19% say they are actually expecting to recruit more staff by the end of the year.

However, such optimism was not reflected in trading figures for the month of January, where many restaurateurs suffered heavy losses due to the travel chaos caused by the snow which crippled roads across the country for weeks.

Almost 50% of operators said takings, covers and customer spend were down compared with January 2009, despite 54% trying to tempt customers in with promotions.
 
The snow also caused other problems for restaurant owners, with deliveries disrupted and staff absent due to the weather.

The impact was so severe for Deanes restaurant in Belfast and Ithaca in Manchester that they were forced to close after snow and freezing temperatures severely affected all aspects of their business.

Alan Lodge, 02.03.2010