Inside: A look at how our habits have changed when it comes to eating out in restaurants. Collaborative post.
It is hard to remember what life before lockdowns looked like, isn’t it? We’ve quickly adjusted to the new way of living as if it has always been the norm. This has had a knock-on effect on various aspects of our life, including our dining-out habits.
Do we eat out more or less as a result of life in lockdown for so many months?
Dining out post-pandemic
For two years people stayed home and had to rely on home cooking or takeaway options. They also had to limit social interaction and so weren’t able to meet up with friends as they were once able to do.
I don’t know about you, but I got so bored of home cooking. With all of the family home, all of the time, I felt like all I ever did was cook for everyone. Takeaways helped a little but it still meant dishes to clean and the 5 of us sitting around the same table each and every day.
As soon as restrictions were lifted there was a huge surge in people booking tables at restaurants, eager to take advantage of their new found freedom. We certainly took advantage of the little freedoms and eased ourselves into eating out by going to pub gardens to eat.
If you look at Google search terms, “restaurants near me” increased from 692,103 searches in April 2019 to 1,222,729 searches in April 2022 – thats an increase of 177%.
Since the start of 2022 life has started to feel a little more normal and so more and more we are finding ourselves behaving as we did pre-pandemic. We don’t have to worry about wearing masks everywhere and the risks are fewer – this has led to us finding ourselves treating ourselves to a meal out more and more.
A change in habits
We definitely used to take eating out for granted but after months of being stuck indoors we value our freedoms now. But, we don’t eat out just anywhere – it has to be worth the trip now. Because what lockdown taught us is that we are fine staying home and we can cook a variety of meals that cost a lot less than a meal out.
So, if we are going out now we pay much more attention to the value we’ll get for our money and we will choose somewhere we know we will get great service and great food. If we are parting with money and making the effort to go out, it needs to be worth it.
According to Palm, Chester, there has been a decrease from year-on-year of people dining out since the beginning of 2022. People are more cautious about how and where they now spend their money.
We are definitely more focused on what we want from a restaurant in terms of cuisine too. I think lockdowns taught us what we do and don’t like and so now we will only head to to places that serve exactly what we like.
Planning ahead more
A major shift in the way we eat out is the way that we plan ahead more. This is down to the fact that when restrictions first lifted, you weren’t able to simply rock up to a restaurant whenever you wanted. You needed to book in advance so that restaurants could plan for numbers and ensure they didn’t have too many people at any given point.
Of course that isn’t necessary any more but we have definitely adjusted to that new norm and plan way in advance if we want to meet up with friends, rather than go out spur of the moment.
This is something noted by restaurants too, with an increase in pre-bookings since before the pandemic. “It seems that customers are planning more and now are keener to book the places that they feel their spend is appreciated.”
As a family we don’t tend do go out during the week, with weekends being less busy for us. And this is also something noted by restaurants with a dip in mid-week customers since the start of 2022. I think perhaps this is due to that post-pandemic surge starting to die down.
Save on meals out
When we eat out it isn’t cheap – being a family of 5 means it soon adds up. I am always looking for ways to try and cut costs and after searching “2 for 1 restaurants near me” I discovered tastecard. I couldn’t believe the deals and other benefits like money off days out at various attractions – it all helps!
On average, members can save around £18.88 per meal, meaning they could save themselves £226.56 a year if they eat out once a month. We have used our card so many times and we’ve also been able to take advantage of the other benefits too – 40% off cinema trips is a favourite!
When we want to go out, we choose restaurants that we love and save money using our tastecard where we can – meaning we get even better value for money and a better overall experience.
We might not go out as often as we once did, but when we do we enjoy it so much more.
Try out tastecard using their 30-day free trial at www.tastecard.co.uk