Like for like sales figures up 1.7% for hospitality providers in 2019 compared to 2018.
According to analysis of more than 1,500 sites using S4labour software, like for like sales in 2019 were up 1.7%, compared to 2018.
While 2019 had several ups and downs, it followed a year that included record breaking warm weather and a football world cup, so growth for the year is encouraging for the sector.
As we saw throughout the whole year, London out performed the rest of the country, this resulted in like for likes sales growth of 2.6% compared to 1.5% outside the capital.
Although it was not true for every month of 2019, food focused businesses often had the better of the sales growth. Overall, this resulted in 2% growth in like for like sales over the year, compared to a smaller rise of 1.2% in sales for wet-led sites.
One trend that we will continue to look out for in 2020 is the rise of the wet-led site out side of the capital. For much of the last decade, figures have shown that public drinking is in decline, However, these figures suggest a much more healthy picture of the industry outside of London. Wet-led sites outside of London enjoyed a boost of 1.8% in sales in 2019, sites in London shrunk a fraction, with a drop of 0.1%. This shows just how impressive the food orientated businesses are inside the capital, with like for like growth of 8.8%, they are driving the majority of the capital’s sales growth.