Sunday drink sales pick up on second weekend back, but trading still down
Total drinks sales in England’s managed pubs and bars remained around half pre-COVID levels on the second Saturday after reopening, but Sunday trading picked up.
Drink choices polarise as the market reboots
The pandemic and lockdown have profound implications for out-of-home drinking and the premiumisation trend in particular. CGA’s Mark Newton explains how consumer behaviour is changing—and how retailers and suppliers can capitalise.
Pub-goers choose a pint on first weekend back, but sales fall short
Total drinks sales in managed pubs and bars that were open last weekend were 49% down on pre-lockdown levels on Saturday and 52% down on Sunday, CGA’s new Drinks Recovery Tracker has revealed.
Two metre rule change means 145 million additional pints can be sold
With the Government’s announcement earlier today that social distancing through pubs, cafés, bars, hotels and restaurants has been reduced to 1 metre from 4th July, out of home food and drink consultancy CGA has calculated that this means 145 million additional pints of beer will be sold through the sector, compared with what would have been sold with 2 metre social distancing.
Hard seltzers: next stop, UK bars
The rise of hard seltzers is one of the big trends in the US on-trade market – and suppliers now have the UK pub, bar and restaurant market in their sights. Hard seltzers, a light refreshing mix of fizzy water, alcohol and flavouring, generated $1.2bn in sales in the US on-premise market during 2019—with 462% dollar sales growth, while volume sales increased by the equivalent of 182 million 12oz cans.
Hard seltzer: the next big thing from the USA?
Hard seltzers are the new drink category starting to dominate supermarket and liquor store shelves in the US. High-profile Super Bowl advertising and social media moments have pictured them as the beverage of choice at home, by the pool or at the beach. With US off-premise sales having hit $1.55bn, on the back of a 213% annual growth rate, hard seltzers are now successfully hitting the American bar and restaurant market too – and if that continues can a mass move across the Atlantic to these shores be far behind?
Lockdown consumers in sober mood
Drinking-in is now the norm in lockdown Britain, with the public increasingly looking to replicate the pub and bar experience in their kitchens and front rooms. New research from CGA shows that this is leading to significantly more people making cocktails and mixed drinks at home.The cocktail boom has been one of the on-trade’s success stories of recent years, with a 10% increase in sales value in 2019 alone. Over 10 million regularly drink cocktails when out, a habit now moving to the domestic environment.
The return of the cocktail cabinet
Drinking-in is now the norm in lockdown Britain, with the public increasingly looking to replicate the pub and bar experience in their kitchens and front rooms. New research from CGA shows that this is leading to significantly more people making cocktails and mixed drinks at home.The cocktail boom has been one of the on-trade’s success stories of recent years, with a 10% increase in sales value in 2019 alone. Over 10 million regularly drink cocktails when out, a habit now moving to the domestic environment.
Lockdown Britain reaching for the wine bottle
Wine drinking is getting a boost from the COVID-19 crisis, with new research showing that well over half of wine drinkers are either maintaining or increasing the number of times they drink wine.The latest CGA-Buyer Wine Insights Bulletin also finds that of those drinking wine more often, the key drinkers are younger and male, which is a significantly different profile to the typical on-trade wine customer.