UK restaurant industry survey: How will consumers react to rising prices and calorie printing?

If managing rising supply costs wasn’t enough, the UK restaurant industry also needs to manage the impact of increased VAT and the requirement to print calories on menus this month. In preparation we asked UK consumers how they will react to price rises and calorie printing.

April 2022 sees two further impacts on the restaurant industry at a time where supplier costs continue to increase and staffing shortages persist. The first of these is a return to 20% VAT levels across hospitality exacerbating rising inflation rates which reached 6.2% in the 12 months to February. The second is the new requirement for organisations employing more than 250 staff members to print calories on their menus.

To investigate the consequences of these changes, the study focused on the relative impact on consumer behaviour of higher prices and both the introduction and increase of printed calories. In addition to testing the impact of inflation on their general…