Shopping behaviours and meal deals - consumer behaviours: evidence brief

Eating Out

Dine in at or takeaway

In questions DV3a to DV3d, respondents were asked, “How often do you dine in at, or get a takeaway delivered from, the following types of places?”:

• Fast-food outlets and takeaways
• Full/table service restaurants, pubs or bars
• Cafés and coffee shops
• Other places

Response options were: Several times a week; About once a week; About 2-3 times a month; About once a month; Less than once a month; Never; Don’t know.

The main places people report eating out at are fast food outlets/takeaways and cafes and coffee shops, with almost one fifth (19%) reporting eating out at both these locations at least once a week or more and over half reporting once a month or more (56% and 53%, respectively).

Analysis by population groups suggests some notable differences. Assessment is more robust against a frequency of once a month or more due to subsample sizes.

Gender – A higher proportion of men report eating out once a month or more at restaurants/pubs (40%) and ‘other’ outlets (25%) compared to women (34% and 16%, respectively).

Age – Younger age groups (18-34) report eating out more often at all types of outlets compared to older groups no matter the frequency.

SES – A higher proportion of those in social groups AB eat out at restaurants/pub/bars, café and coffee shops and other places compared to social groups DE no matter the frequency. A higher proportion of those with high income compared to low income eat out at all outlets at least once a month or more or at least sometimes. However, a higher proportion of those from the most deprived areas eat out at fast food/takeaways at least once a month compared to the least deprived. There is the same tendency for eating at these outlets at least sometimes, but the result is not significant.

Ethnicity – A higher proportion of those from EM groups report eating out at all outlets no matter the frequency. Most, but not all results are statistically significant. Where they are not significant, they still show the same tendency.

Disability – There are some indications that non-disabled eat out more at all outlet types monthly or at least sometimes, but no differences at once a week or more.

Rurality – Urban generally eat out more at all outlet types based on once a month or at least sometimes data.

See Tables 2, 3 & 4 in Data Tables on Tab titled “SHOPPING – Summary Tables”

Food on the Go (FOTG)

In questions DV4a to DV4f, respondents were asked “How often do you get food ‘on the go’ from the following types of places?”:

• Fast-food outlets and takeaways
• Cafés and coffee shops
• Bakery and sandwich shops
• Supermarkets
• Convenience stores
• Other places

Response options were: Several times a week; About once a week; About 2-3 times a month; About once a month; Less than once a month; Never; Don’t know.

The main places people report getting FOTG are from supermarkets and bakery /sandwich shops with 18% reporting getting FOTG at least weekly from supermarkets and 14% from bakery/sandwich shops. Nearly half report getting FOTG at least monthly from either of these.

Analysis by population groups suggests some notable differences. The data is better for a frequency of once a month or more due to subsample sizes.

Gender – A higher proportion of men report getting FOTG from all outlet types.

Age – A higher proportion of younger people report getting FOTG from all outlets types with the youngest age group (18-34) getting more than those age 35-54 and this latter group getting more than those age 55 years or older.

SES – A higher proportion of those in social groups AB compared to DE report getting FOTG from all outlet types. A higher proportion of high income compared to low income report getting FOTG from all outlet types.

Ethnicity – A higher proportion of those from EM groups compared to white respondents report getting FOTG from all outlet types, with the exception of other places.

Disability – A higher proportion of non-disabled than disabled report getting FOTG at least sometimes from all outlets with the exception of convenience stores.

Rurality – A higher proportion of urban respondents compared to rural report getting FOTG from all types of outlets. The direction of findings is consistent even though not all the differences are statistically significant.

See Tables 5, 6 & 7 in Data Tables on Tab titled “SHOPPING – Summary Tables”