Sunny bank holiday drives sales for hospitality sector

Over the warm May bank holiday, hospitality experienced a significant 63% jump in like-for-like sales, comparing the Saturday to Monday with the same bank holiday weekend in 2019.

The breakdown of the figures from labour management software provider S4labour saw an increase in drink sales by 42.9% and food sales skyrocketing 90.7%.

S4labour said: "While we believe this was attributed to a favourable weather spanning through the weekend, it demonstrates the potential appetite the UK has for hospitality and just what a great job our sector has done to be able to meet that demand with restrictions still in place."

Since reopening indoors, hospitality like-for-like sales are up by 34%, comparing figures from the two weeks since 17 May, when rules allowed for indoor service, with the same two weeks in 2019. The increase was mostly driven by food sales, which grew by 51%, and drink sales advancing 20%.

S4labour chief product officer Richard Hartley's added: "With this level of demand, the sector will be watching government announcements closely, praying that social distancing and other barriers to trade are removed once and for all on 21 June."

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