A new UK report has linked celebrity chefs with the boom in foodservice start-ups.
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The number of new UK businesses being set up in the catering sector could be due to the influence of celebrity chefs, according to a new report by Barclays. Given that these ‘food icons’ have contributed to enhanced culinary curiosity amongst consumers, the finding certainly has credence. However, there are other more important factors driving the increasingly habitual nature of eating out.
Statistics from the Barclays Start-ups and Closures small business survey have shown that the number of catering businesses set up reached 16,000 for the first three quarters of 2004, compared to just below 11,000 for the corresponding period in the previous year. The researchers concluded that TV chefs have made dining out more trendy, with around a fifth of consumers now eating out more than once a week and experimenting with different dishes.
In the UK, celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay have certainly contributed to rising interest in culinary exoticism and food quality. However, it is in the retail sector where their influence has been most pronounced. Consumers’ expectations concerning prepared meals purchased for consumption at home are now far more sophisticated, as they demand that ‘everyday’ foods should be a little more gourmet.
In contrast, consumers have always been more experimental and demanding when eating out – something which explains why many food trends cascade down from upscale restaurants to more casual restaurants and then to retail.
It would be overstating the case to suggest that celebrity chefs are the single major driver in rising eating out however. The fact that there remains a skill gap, for instance, is another crucially important reason in explaining the growth in restaurant visits. UK consumers’ growing interest with fine dining has raised expectations beyond their general culinary capabilities. Eating out provides a solution in which one’s desire for new taste sensations can be realised without resorting to a prepared meal.
It is changing lifestyle factors, however, such as two-parent working families, long working hours and the rise of the ‘cash-rich, time-poor’ consumer that has had a more profound impact on eating-out frequencies. Convenience needs mean that out of home consumption, which accounted for 31.6% of European eating occasions in 2003, is expected to reach 35% by 2008. It seems that the need for speed, rather than the latest televisual trend, may be the real reason for the catering business boom.
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