More than half of British diners say rising prices are the main reason they are eating out less, according to YouGov data showing that overall 38% of people are visiting restaurants and other eateries less often than a year ago.
Among those cutting back, 63% cite higher costs as the main reason to dine out less frequently, according to the poll. Despite this downturn, more than two in five are still choosing to eat out at least once a month, while 8% of people say they never do.
UK inflation was unchanged last month at 3.8%, confounding expectations of a rise, in welcome news for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as she plans for her crucial budget next month.
However, inflation is still well above the government’s 2% target, and cost-conscious behaviours are on the rise. Nearly half of British diners say they have altered their dining preferences with a view to saving money. Of these, three in five say they are choosing cheaper restaurants, while 52% say they order fewer items, YouGov found.
Sarika Rana, director of consumer research at the polling and market research company, said dining out was “under pressure”. She added: “Six in 10 consumers say they are eating out at least once a month, yet nearly 38% of diners say they are doing so less than they did a year ago, citing rising costs. This represents an opportunity for more economic dining options. 59% of Brits who have altered their dining preferences say they are opting for cheaper restaurants.”
Sainsbury’s has just launched Taste the Difference Discovery, which the supermarket chain says offers restaurant-quality food that people can eat at home. It said that the new collection was designed to meet a growing demand for premium food as shoppers are increasingly dining in and looking for new ways to treat themselves at home. The range of more than 50 products includes British wagyu, Aberdeen Angus steaks, and modern Indian ready meals with a curated selection of wines and spirits.
Meanwhile the food entrepreneur Charlie Bigham has recently launched a range of luxurious ready meals in some Waitrose branches costing up to £29.95.
Amid increased operating costs and consumer caution, some restaurants have been struggling to survive. Pizza Hut announced the closure of 68 of its restaurants this week, putting as many as 1,200 jobs at risk, after the company behind its UK venues fell into administration. Eleven delivery-only sites will also close.
In July the trade body for the hospitality sector said data showed it had been the hardest-hit sector since the budget, accounting for 45% of all job losses. The chair of UKHospitality, Kate Nicholls, said: “The change to employer NICs in particular, was socially regressive and had a disproportionate impact on entry level jobs.”
skip past newsletter promotion
after newsletter promotion
The YouGov survey found that 79% of British diners believe restaurant prices have increased in the past year, with baby boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 – most likely to notice the change.
Social media is the leading way consumers find restaurant deals, particularly among younger restaurant-goers. The poll of 2,000 people in Great Britain found 36% of people heard about restaurant promotions this way.
Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous illness with an unclear cause. The clinical hallmark of this condition is the presence of non-caseating granulomas in the affected organs, primarily the lungs and intrathoracic lymph nodes [5]. The…
Iwata Chihiro: “Many of them probably found me mysterious”
In January 2024, Iwata arrived in Kansas as Japan’s first-ever flag football export and went straight into the rigorous practice with the season starting a short month later.
Some genetic disorders-such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and Tay Sachs disease-involve many mutations in a person’s genome, often with enough variation that even two individuals who share the same disorder might have a different…
British driver Chadwick is well-acquainted with the Jaguar I‑TYPE 7, having driven the car during the inaugural Women’s Test in Madrid; in Jeddah’s Rookie Free Practice session; and the Rookie Test…
Littler closed the gap on Humphries when he won the World Grand Prix earlier this month, saying afterwards: “Obviously, until I get that world number one spot, I will never call myself the best in the world.
Many actors transform from one version of themselves into another, like Al Pacino around the time of Scarface. Others approach their older selves until they inhabit them, like Jim Broadbent. You have remained your same self: graceful, poised,…
Investor appetite for gold has the potential to double prices of the metal, says JPMorgan.
For those weary of the AI debate, gold’s dramatic swoon this week has at least changed the discussion.
Since its biggest one-day drop in over a decade on Tuesday, the debate has surrounded whether gold will regroup and push higher. Goldman Sachs, for one, is sticking to its end-2026 target of $4,900 per ounce, and sees upside risks from central bank as well as institutional investor demand.
“The speed of recent ETF inflows and client feedback suggest many long-term capital allocators – including sovereign-wealth funds, central banks, pension funds, and both private wealth and asset managers – are planning to increase their exposure to gold as a strategic portfolio diversifier,” said analysts Lina Thomas and Daan Struyven, said in a note.
That segues into our call of the day from a JPMorgan team of strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, who say the price of gold could more than double in three years, as investors increasingly use it to hedge equities.
Firstly, Panigirtzoglou and his colleagues blame the metal’s recent tumble on trend-following commodity trading advisers taking profit on gold futures contracts, rather than retail investors exiting gold ETF exposures. Gold futures (GC00) have soared 56% this year.
“If this assessment is correct and retail investors were not behind [Tuesday’s] gold correction, then it is likely that their buying of gold ETFs has been less motivated by momentum and more driven by other factors,” they said.
The strategists do not believe all of that buying can be explained by this year’s popular debasement trade, which has seen investors turn to gold due to worries of a weakening dollar.
“What the ‘debasement trade’ does not traditionally encompass is the motivation to hedge equity exposures. And this motivation to hedge equity exposures has been more visible this year as retail investors bought equities and gold simultaneously and shunned longer-dated bonds, i.e. their traditional asset to hedge equity risk,” said Panigirtzoglou and his team.
While retail investors flocked to those bonds in 2023 and most of 2024, likely as a hedge against rising stock prices, they haven’t done the same this year, even though equities continue to climb, said the strategists. Instead, as their chart shows, gold has been the draw:
The strategists calculate that nonbank investors globally have boosted their allocation to gold to 2.6% of holdings. They arrive at this number by dividing $6.6 trillion of private investor gold holdings excluding central banks by the total stock of equities, bonds, cash and gold held outside banks. Should their theory that investors have replaced gold with bonds to hedge equity exposures prove correct, then that 2.6% allocation is probably too low, they say.
Another factor driving investors toward gold and away from those longer-dated bonds concerns the investor experience post Liberation Day, when President Donald Trump announced tariff rates he quickly scaled back. As stocks sharply corrected, longer-dated bonds also suffered, which became a problem for strategies that use those bonds as a way to hedge equity risk, said the JPMorgan team.
They calculate, using ETFs as a proxy, that around a tenth of the 20% allocation to bonds is in longer-dated bond funds. If that 2% allocation to those bonds were to be replaced by gold, the overall allocation would rise to 4.6%, implying a near doubling of gold prices factoring in other financial assets.
To be more exact, Panigirtzoglou and his team assume equity prices grow enough in the next three years that equity allocations rise to 54.6%, the previous peak of the dot-com bubble era. They also factor in a projected $7 trillion per year expansion of bonds and cash in the next three years. With both in mind, “the gold price would have to rise by 110% for the gold allocation to increase from 2.6% currently to 4.6% by 2028,” said the JPMorgan team.
Read: Here’s a theory about why gold suffered its biggest one-day fall in more than 10 years, and it’s linked to the U.S. economy
The markets
U.S. stock futures (ES00) (YM00) (NQ00) are mostly flat after Wednesday’s selloff. Oil (CL00) has climbed above $60/barrel after U.S. sanctions on two major Russian oil exporters. Gold (GC00) and silver (SI00) are rising.
Tesla shares (TSLA) are falling after revenue beat, but earnings disappointed. CEO Elon Musk closed out the call asking investors to vote in favor of his $1 trillion compensation package.
IBM shares (IBM) declined on concerns over growth in its software business.
Results from Intel (INTC) and Ford (F) results are due after the close.
Quantum stocks soared after the Wall Street Journal reported the Trump administration is considering making investments in the space.
Molina Healthcare (MOH) cut full-year guidance after the healthcare provider’s underperformance in its marketplace hit sales.
Existing-home sales for September are due at 10 a.m. Fed governor Michael Barr will make another appearance, at 10:25 a.m.
Best of the web
Popular leveraged funds shock investors with huge losses.
Goldman trader answers why the so-called dumb money has been beating the pros this year.
Why these money managers see stocks climbing through 2026.
The chart
Yardeni Research offers a chart showing a bubble for Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF ARKK during 2020, that burst the next two years “without causing any collateral damage,” and since April has been doing fine. It’s part of a bone Yardeni has to pick with talk over an “everything bubble” that will soon pop. Rising margin debt this summer, SPACs in 2021, bitcoin in 2022 were all bubbly but no global collapse ensued, the firm says.
Top tickers
These were the top-searched tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m.:
Wild bear breaks into California zoo, checks on pals.
That Louvre jewelry heist? Security camera were pointed the other way.
In Spain, a far lower-stakes theft, of restaurant chairs.
-Barbara Kollmeyer
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
