Diners will expect all the trimmings at Christmas despite supply challenges

Diners will still be expecting all the trimmings at Christmas despite pressures on supplies, according to insight from Premier Foods Foodservice.

Its latest consumer survey, designed to inspire chefs and help them to promote their seasonal menus, found that eating out at least once over the Christmas period was important for 56% of diners.

Premier Foods Foodservice said that the festive season would continue to provide pubs and restaurateurs with an exciting opportunity to drive sales.

It found that 79% of respondents said they prefer to eat traditional dishes on Christmas Day, with the top five favourites including roast potatoes, gravy, meat, pigs in blankets and stuffing.

When thinking about the key element of the main course the most popular three choices were turkey followed by chicken and then a plant-based option. For dessert, Christmas pudding followed jointly by trifle and yule Christmas log hit the top spots.

More than half (55%) of those surveyed said they would enjoy a Christmas food and drink pairing experience providing an additional marketing opportunity for pubs and restaurants to drive festive bookings. However, when thinking about a group Christmas dinner, the dietary requirements people consider most are vegetarian followed by low sugar and vegan. Dietary requirements determine where to eat out for almost a quarter of respondents.

Sarah Robb, marketing manager at Premier Foods Foodservice said: "We know what a busy time the festive season is for chefs in all areas of foodservice, so we wanted to provide as much insight as possible to help our customers to drive sales. We have created some new recipes to help chefs save time in the kitchen and over the coming weeks and months will be providing plenty of inspiration on our social media channels."

For recipe ideas visit www.premierfoodservice.co.uk.