Eating out the new eating in?

Walking around Dartmouth yesterday the cafes and chip shops were rather busy but this is not the case throughout the whole of the UK.

The total amount spent on eating out for less than £15 a head is set to dip for the first time in 40 years. Eating ot for less than £15 a head is know as the “informal market for eating out” and is worth £40bn a year in the UK. It is a market that has previously been regarded as recession-resilient as diners tend to trade down for fast food. The market though is set to drop by 0.5% in 2009. The study by Allegra Strategies suggested that UK diners were eating away from home one in nine meals, down from one in eight last year.

There are about 250,000 independent food and drink establishments in the UK but the report found that 15,000 jobs were lost in the sector last year and 20% of people were expecting to eat out less this year.

This ties in nicely with a stat in The Telegraph yesterday that highlighted that household spending on frozen food has reached an all time high as consumers try to save costs by cutting down on more expensive fresh food.

Perhaps I have been lulled into a false sense of healthiness with regards to Dartmouth especially given the affluence of its residents and the fact that it is the height of the tourist season.

The BBC article can be found here.