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Eat Out to Help Out scheme boosts hospitality industry

7th Aug 2020 - 06:00
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Struggling restaurants and caterers praised the Eat Out to Help Out scheme as an important step towards encouraging the general public to go out and eat again.

Eat Out to Help Out offers customers 50% off their food or non-alcoholic drinks up to £10 per person from Mondays to Wednesdays throughout August. The latest figures show that over 73,000 individual outlets have signed up to the Government scheme.

Trade body UKHospitality estimated that 93% of eligible sector businesses in the UK are involved and some 3.3 million people have used the Government online restaurant finder.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “The chancellor recognised that our sector has been hit the hardest of all and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme provides a much-needed boost for many vulnerable hospitality businesses.

“The sector has been quick to adopt the scheme and customers have been quick to take advantage of the many great deals available – with many newly social-distanced venues now booked up. We hope that people continue to enjoy a fantastic dining out experience at a significant discount throughout the rest of August.”

The UK hospitality sector employs 3.2m people and generates £39bn of tax for the Exchequer. Operators across the country have reported a ‘significant double digit increases’ in like-for-like sales compared to this time last year.

Michelin-star chef Tom Kerridge, added: “It’s been great for the industry. We all love the sound of glassware and crockery being used and happy people in restaurants. We’re all looking forward to the stage where we can stand on our own two feet again, and this has been helpful support in the meantime.”  

Written by
Edward Waddell