0.7% Fall in Sales in April Despite Good Easter Weather
According to analysis of more than 100 organisations that use S4labour software, operators had slightly weaker sales than in the same month the previous year. Whilst the first quarter of 2019 had seen resilient figures for both food and drink, A sunny Easter bank holiday wasn’t enough to out perform April last year. April 2019 sales figures could be summarised by a weakening of food sales, with some gains being made in drink sales for dry let operators.
The sales of food plateaued in both wet and dry focused business, with a slight overall drop off of 1.8% compared to like for like sales in April 2018. However, worst hit were drink focused venues where food sales declined by 5.7%. Dry let business, while sales also dipped, only saw a 0.3% decline on April last year.
Despite this, drink sales in food focused business bucked the trend with an 4.1% uplift in like for like sales. Drink sales in wet led business slipped 2.2%.
Some of this decline can be accounted for by the slightly lower temperature compared to 2018, where the UK enjoyed more sustained periods of warmer weather.
