What role does health play when people dine out in the UK?

New research conducted by IGD has been published which focuses on two key trends: dining out and eating well.

67% of consumers eat out at least once a week with 39% citing health as one of their top 3 priorities when choosing lunch out of the home.The number of people eating out is on the rise with 31% saying they would eat out more often if there were more healthy options available and 34% avoiding some outlets because of their lack of healthy choices. This leaves significant room for improvement within the takeaway sector.

But what's holding people back?

Dining out whilst eating well has always had four key barriers to overcome:

1. The perception that healthy food is more expensive
2. Confusion about health messages
3. Pursuing healthy choices requires more effort
4. The takeaway food culture

What can be done to change this?

1. Value perceptions around healthy-eating are deep-seated with 58% believing it to be more expensive to eat healthily out of the home. Keeping prices low whilst not sacrificing quality is key, consumers are willing to pay more for a quality product but that doesn't mean they want to break the bank each time they dine-out. Kafoodle Kitchen can help you keep a track on your GP's allowing you to make minor changes to dishes and see what an impact this can have on your pricing points.
2. Many people are confused about the messaging behind healthy eating. One day we are told to eat more fruit, the next that fruit sugar is bad. An easy way to combat this is by providing complete nutritional transparency - Kafoodle Kitchen works out the nutrition and allergen information of your dishes and then displays them seamlessly to your diners through the Kafoodle App, allowing them to make their own informed decision.
3. If finding a healthier option requires more effort people are likely to revert to the simplest solution. IGD offered their survey participants a range of ways to make finding healthier food easier with no clear winner, but 35% wanted healthy options to be clearly marked on the menu and distinguishable at a glance. Once again nutritional transparency is vital, clearly labelling all takeaway food items can provide consumers with the information they desire. Did you know Kafoodle Kitchen has an easy-to-use labelling feature that was specifically designed to help grab-and-go food providers?
4. Classic takeaway meals are not associated with health which has led to an unhealthy takeaway food culture. As home delivery services begin to provide more healthy choices this perception will change. There really is a significant demand for healthier alternatives across the board with 37% listing health as a top three driver for breakfast, 39% for lunch and 36% for dinner.

What should you do next to maximise this opportunity?

1. Encourage people to eat out more frequentlyWith dining out often associated with indulgence, many people restrict themselves. Providing more healthy options for the 31% that would like to eat out more but only if they can eat healthily could encourage a change in mindset. By shifting consumer mindsets away from overindulgence and instead to nutritious and healthy food, people will not feel guilty about eating out more frequently.
2. Change the language of health to champion healthy ingredientsFor many consumers, a negative connotation has formed between eating healthily and taking pleasure. Repositioning the language of health to focus on how healthy food can taste good and make you feel good could break this connotation. There is also a significant opportunity to fulfil special dietary requirements such as veganism and dairy-free with 20% of take-away consumers wanting a larger range of vegan products and 22% wishing there were more dairy-free alternatives.
3. Build a winning reputation by providing healthier alternativesIGD's research showed that no one large-scale company has achieved the lead in building a reputation on health, meaning that this is still an open race. There's a significant opportunity to become the leading brand in healthy takeaway food by providing healthy options throughout the range and modifying cooking methods to be as healthy as possible without sacrificing on taste.
4. Target the health hotspotsWorkers looking for lunch are a particularly receptive audience for healthy options. Utilising consumer-demographic data can allow takeaway providers to meet the demands of their specific customer base, whether that be time restraints, price or quantity.
5. Let Kafoodle helpUtilise technology to help you build healthier recipes and deliver your nutritional and allergen information to your diners. Save yourself time and money with a digital food-management system so that you can focus on what matters, creating high-quality delicious food.

To find out more about what Kafoodle can do for your business please get in touch! We'd love to show you a quick demonstration of the Kafoodle system.

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