New figures, just published by Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) shows the sales of breakfasts eaten out in the UK has grown significantly in the last 12 months alone. Breakfast is increasingly becoming big business right across the British Isles.
M&B – the company behind pub, bar and restaurant chains including Harvester, Toby Carvery, Sizzling Pubs and Ember Inns – has seen breakfast sales groupwide grow from over 6 million breakfasts in 2014 to over 230,000 breakfasts per week this year to date.
Breakfast has become a major part of the foodservice growth story this year and operators like M&B are looking at a variety of initiatives to maximise the opportunity.
The Full English remains king
M&B – which also owns brands All Bar One, Browns, Miller & Carter, Vintage Inns Nicholson’s – conducted its own extensive research into the ‘Breakfast Out’ trend which has discovered that while there is great variation in the contents of the British breakfast plate, the Full English is still very much king in the UK.
New era of eating out for breakfast
The research also confirmed much of what M&B had suspected for some time – a new era of eating breakfast out is in full flow in the UK.
Spotting the trend early has been key to M&B’s continuing success in breakfast foodservice sales. Having seen the writing on the wall, they recently introduced a breakfast section to the menus of many of its pubs and restaurants that hadn’t previously offered full range breakfast service such as Sizzling Pubs and All Bar One.
Jo Hudson, from M&B said: “There has been huge pressure on pubs and restaurants over the last decade or so. The industry has had to change its offer and evolve to survive and prosper. But it has been clear for some time that eating breakfast out is a new and growing trend and that we are perfectly placed to take advantage of the movement.
“We have been concentrating much of our effort on breakfasts right across the group in 2015, fuelling the nation first thing in the morning.”
Research findings
M&B’s research has revealed that over a third of Brits eat breakfast out more than once a month and that almost half the nation cite the Full English Breakfast as its favourite breakfast dish.
The M&B success comes on the back of new data from Kantar Worldpanel, a company dealing in consumer knowledge, which shows that eggs featured in 804.6million breakfasts at home – up 13.7 per cent year on year. Servings of bacon and sausages also increased, by 7.1 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.
After years in the wilderness, it seems the Full Monty is very much back – back with a bang(er)!