SevenRooms Releases 2024 U.K. Restaurant Trends and Diner Expectations Report for the Hospitality Industry

LONDON (August 6, 2024) – SevenRooms, the leading CRM, marketing and operations platform for growing restaurants, released its first annual trends report, “2024 Restaurant Trends and Diner Expectations,” highlighting how U.K. restaurants are filling the need for ‘third places’ outside the home and workplace, what British consumers expect from their dining experiences, and how restaurants are leveraging AI and automation to keep diners coming back. 

The study, commissioned through independent third-party research firm Censuswide, examines consumer and foodservice operator insights, alongside data from SevenRooms restaurant customers. It emphasises the importance of restaurants understanding their guests and providing experiences and value to consumers, including marketing and tech trends that operators are paying attention to.  

Diners Expect More From Restaurants 

While it’s no surprise that diner expectations have evolved in recent years, consumers across generations and cities share key expectations when dining out — they’re looking for convenience, personalisation and value from brands they trust. Restaurants must nail all aspects of the guest experience, from hospitality and service to ambiance and atmosphere, to transform diners into brand ambassadors that bringing their pounds back more often.

When looking across generations, Gen Z are driving a dining resurgence – dining out most frequently with more than half (53%) saying they dine out at least 3x a month. They are seeking more from their restaurant visits, and are willing to spend more for elevated experiences, like heritage and heirloom ingredients or high-end items like caviar and truffles. 

For these experiences, Britons are willing to spend up to £50 per person for a meal out, with diners in London spending a bit more on average. As diners focus on the quality over quantity of their experiences, that means restaurants must do more to keep those diner pounds. Dining upgrades consumers are willing to spend above market price on by city include: 

Outside of these offerings, restaurants must also capitalise on influential factors that bring diners back. For example, 21% of Gen Zers consider the rapport they develop with front-of-house staff. Meanwhile, 59% of Millennials care about the atmosphere and ambiance and 27% of Gen Xers are influenced by the ease of making a reservation. Tailoring guest experience and service helps operators turn one-time diners into loyal customers. 

“New consumer demands are pushing restaurants to find the right balance between hospitality and automation to create the experiences guests crave and return for,” said Joel Montaniel, CEO & Co-Founder at SevenRooms. “Diners want both access and recognition when spending their hard-earned pounds, and restaurants must embrace new strategies – and technologies like AI and automation – to enhance hospitality at every touch point. Whether leveraging platform data to personalise diner experiences or power marketing and retention programs, technology and data serve as a vehicle to execute hospitality that guests remember and return for. When technology is used effectively, it allows operators to focus on building deeper connections and delighting guests, one experience at a time."

Loyalty is Never One-Size-Fits-All   

In the U.K., there was a 21% year-over-year increase in reservations comparing Q1 2023 to Q1 2024 and restaurants are looking to a promising future. Whether operators are focused on opening new locations or revamping their social media marketing efforts, one factor remains the same – establishing personal relationships with diners is the strongest way to build and maintain loyal customers. 

Consumers have a strong intent to dine with their favourite brands. If a guest can’t get a reservation at their preferred restaurant, 35% look for a different date and time at the same restaurant, 29% check for availability at sister restaurants within the same group, and 25% check other sites for the same restaurant. 

Cultivating loyalty is critical. Loyalty is not one-size-fits-all and diners have different interests when it comes to the benefits they seek out from loyalty schemes. Restaurants need to understand their diner demographics to curate operations and offerings, getting their guests to not only return more often but spend more in the process. 

38% of big spenders (those who spend £71-100 per person) are looking for early access to reservations, while consumers who dine out 7-8 times per month are most likely to join a rewards programme for VIP access to specialty seating areas (like a Chef’s Counter). Breaking down generational differences on why diners are incentivised to join loyalty programmes:

Genuine, Tailored Marketing is Critical to Success  

When it comes to marketing, authenticity and personalisation reign supreme for consumers. Guests want to be known by their favourite restaurants, and restaurants want to know and understand their guests. To reach these consumers, and serve up personalised marketing that makes guests want to return, restaurants have to use all the tools in their arsenal – like social media and automated emails and marketing –  to create high-touch communications that are both genuine and personal. 

84% of U.K. restaurant operators spend the majority of their marketing budget on social media. Their top social media goals are to drive bookings or online orders (52%) and increase brand awareness (39%). But not all content is created equal – 42% of operators say that influencer posts (e.g. paid or user-generated content) drive the most bookings to their restaurants. With almost half of U.K. consumers (46%) trying restaurants because of social media, it’s critical for restaurants to use social media to showcase their personality – highlighting their team, food and drinks and atmosphere.

With 100% of generations preferring email marketing for restaurant promotions, there is significant value in using this channel to build customer relationships. Diners want information shared with them ahead of time, with 50% saying that receiving the full food and cocktail menu ahead of time would make their dining experience more enjoyable. 

With targeted Email Marketing, the data report notes that operators see 23% higher open rates and 28% higher click-to-open rates, generating 2x more revenue per email. Text marketing is fairly new for restaurants, but has huge potential, with an average text open rate of 98%. 

"Before SevenRooms the [guest follow-up and outreach] process was quite manual,” said Joao Teixerira, Reservations Consultant for The Main Mayfair. “We were running reports and then prompting email campaigns targeting specific groups. SevenRooms eliminates the manual labour and all the costs associated. We can literally make money whilst we sleep."

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Comes into Play

Every industry today is using AI and automation in some way to streamline their operations and help staff work more efficiently – and the same is true for the restaurant industry.  66% of operators surveyed said they use artificial intelligence in some way to run their business, including: 

But there is room to grow with AI, with only 21% saying they use it to process reservations and 19% for customer service. With personalised marketing and operations a large focus for operators in 2024 and beyond to deliver on high-touch hospitality, operators have a massive opportunity to use AI more effectively. 

“We actively use AI in marketing, SEO, social media posts and various other written tasks using ChatGPT,” said Kevin Coetzee, People Director at Humble Grape. “The team also uses it for email responses, letter drafting and HR functions like job adverts and descriptions. We have recently used an AI bot that scrapes information from various solutions in our tech stack like SevenRooms, Harri and Lightspeed and pulls it into one report that senior management can access and analyse. We use a chatbot on our website to funnel and direct enquiries from customers to the relevant stream — like weddings or private events vs a FAQ.”

For more information about SevenRooms and to download the full report, please visit here.

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About SevenRooms 

SevenRooms is a CRM, marketing and operations platform for growing restaurants in the hospitality industry. From Michelin star gems to local favourites, the all-in-one platform helps restaurants increase sales, delight guests, and keep them coming back, automatically. The full suite of products includes reservations, waitlist and table management, review aggregation, referrals, email marketing, and marketing automation. Founded in 2011 and venture-backed by Amazon, Comcast Ventures and PSG, SevenRooms has more than 10,000 dining, hotel F&B, nightlife and entertainment clients globally, including: Marriott International, Harrods, Jumeirah Group, The Wolseley Hospitality Group, Dishoom, Fortnum & Mason, Inception Group, Addmind Hospitality, JKS Restaurants, MJMK Restaurants, Zuma, Nobu Restaurants, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Sunset Hospitality, Atlantis, FIVE Hotels and Resorts, Live Nation and Topgolf.

Research Methodology 

SevenRooms partnered with Censuswide Research – a third-party, professional research and consulting organisation. Total sample size was 1,004 U.K. consumers. Fieldwork was undertaken between March 4-11, 2024. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all U.K. adults (aged 16+).

SevenRooms partnered with Censuswide Research – a third-party, professional research and consulting organisation. Total sample size was 250 U.K. operators (hospitality decision-makers). Fieldwork was undertaken between March 4-19, 2024. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of U.S. hospitality operators.

SevenRooms provided anonymised internal data representative of U.K.-based restaurants using the SevenRooms platform and surveyed a sample of operators at various restaurant sizes and types across the U.K. in March 2024.

Media Contact

SevenRooms

press@sevenrooms.com