2022 in a Nutshell: Lightspeed’s State of the Global Hospitality Industry Report
Over the past two years, the hospitality industry has been chock-full of gloomy headlines. Whether from rising energy and ingredient costs, or even staffing shortages, restaurants have been facing challenge after challenge since the pandemic.
In order to analyse some of the main issues affecting restaurants today, Lightspeed, the one-stop commerce platform for restaurants, surveyed 1,100 hospitality operators, and 7,000 customers internationally, in our State of the Global Hospitality Industry Report for 2022.
Here’s what we found out:
Staffing shortages and opening hours
For the UK hospitality sector, a combination of factors including Brexit, COVID-19, and the country’s cost-of-living crisis have shouldered the blame for staffing issues. However, our survey has shown an unexpected bright spot. While all economies are suffering, to some extent, staffing in the UK is in better shape than anticipated.
43% of UK businesses report that they are operating with fewer staff than needed. But, surprisingly, the UK is least likely of those surveyed to reduce opening hours due to staff shortages. So, it seems staffing issues in the UK hospitality sector are not as stark as widely reported.
According to Peter Dougherty, Lightspeed’s General Manager for hospitality, the UK might even be faring better than comparable nations. “There can be no doubt that the UK’s world-renowned hospitality sector has suffered due to a number of factors beyond its control. However, it is in no worse of a position — arguably much better — than other countries.”
UK restaurants even have considerably less of an issue with staff retention than the USA or Australia. Just 34% of UK businesses report they have ‘struggled to retain staff’, compared with 50% in the US, and 42% in Australia.
This isn't to say the UK isn’t facing their fair share of staffing struggles, but they have been able to fend off some major shockwaves despite political factors. “The data does, after all, show fairly high levels of staffing struggles. But, it is interesting nonetheless that even accounting for a factor unique to the country —Brexit— these struggles are comparable to other countries,” adds Dougherty.
Rising cost of food and supplies
The biggest challenge for UK businesses? Unsurprisingly, the increase in food and supply costs.
According to our report, over 69% of UK businesses have raised their menu prices in 2022 and 71% say pricing has become more difficult to manage.
The cost of ingredients has also forced restaurants to change strategies and take a hard look at their inventory. 45% of restaurants report using lower-cost ingredients to improve their margins.
According to Dougherty, restaurants need to adjust their practices to account for rising costs. “It is clear that while staffing is comparable to other major economies, rising costs in the UK are far more acute, and efficiencies will need to be made.”
While the hospitality industry is far from “business as usual”, it’s not all doom and gloom. 38% of businesses in the UK are now reporting that they are bouncing back.
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