Strong December for US hospitality

The US on-trade saw a strong build up to Christmas in the middle of December, the latest data has found, and Christmas Day was the second best day of the year for restaurants and bars that were open.   

Although just under a quarter of outlets were open on Christmas Day, and footfall was 48% lower than the previous Saturday,  CGA’s first On Premise Impact report said the average spend was up by around 116% on an ‘average’ day, making it the second most lucrative day in 2021, after Thanksgiving.

The data showed that check values benchmarked strongest against an average day in eating outlets (122%), although drinking outlets also fared well (54%).

The festive season followed a similar pattern to that in 2019, the latest CGA BeverageTrak showed, with the weeks of 18 December up 9% on the previous week, before falling back down by 16% in the week to 25 December. However the following week to 4 January saw an uplift of 10%.

According to Matthew Crompton, CGA Client Solutions Director, Americas, this indicates there is reason to be confident that 2022 will be a good year for On Premise engagement and visitation.

“Consumer demand returned strongly in 2021 and has proven to be extremely resilient to short term restrictions and other challenges,” he said. “The On Premise is an incredibly valuable market, and an important channel for trial, experimentation and building brand equity, and 60% of consumers state that On Premise experiences lead them to Off Premise purchases, driving total trade growth for brands and categories at large.”

He added that there were “many opportunities” to win share and drive growth in the on-trade.