Peter Backman5 days ago1 minHouseholds to spend 7.5-8% of income on energy...The latest forecasts from the Bank of England say that, by the end of this year, households will be spending somewhere between 7.5% and...
Peter BackmanMay 91 minAmazon has made a quarterly loss - what could this mean for restaurant delivery?At the end of last month Amazon published results that gave me pause for thought. The company made a loss in the first quarter of this...
Peter BackmanMay 31 minA trinity of changes is pressuring the foodservice sectorWorking from Home, Travel and Delivery are pressuring the sector and posing some fundamental questions for operators, who is the...
Peter BackmanApr 251 minOverseas visitors likely to spend 50% less than in 2019 In this week’s numbers, I consider the impact of tourism. VisitBritain has published forecasts which suggests overseas tourists will...
Peter BackmanApr 111 minWill eating out become transactional?Whilst, I’ve talked about this before, a couple of things have heightened the issue for me. The new calorie labelling regulations being...
Peter BackmanApr 41 minAre delivery companies missing the point?Is delivery technology killing the personal touch? That personal touch that is synonymous with hospitality. Are delivery companies...
Peter BackmanMar 281 minWhat if we hadn't had covid?The reason I pose this counter factual question, is that I’m noticing two, opposing states of mind. On the one hand, we are facing...
Peter BackmanMar 211 minTwo years on; what's coming next?This is the 100th edition of my Weekly Briefing Report. In the issue, I take a look at the last year. What did I predict this time last...
Peter BackmanMar 141 minDelivery companies are racing each other to grow market share...Headlines in the investment media last week proclaimed that, last summer, DoorDash was having discussions with Deliveroo, as if this was...
Peter BackmanMar 71 minWhere do restaurants fit into the characteristics of daily life?In this Weekly Briefing Report, I take a look at a mundane, quotidian issue with what I hope can be seen as a light touch in this dark...
Peter BackmanFeb 281 minA post-covid rethink?In this week’s WBR, I consider what’s going to be needed to help the evolution of the hospitality and foodservice world. It’s most...
Peter BackmanFeb 211 minOur potential employee pool is shrinkingWe are an ageing population which means a smaller pool of potential employees; what does this mean for businesses and the economy? And,...
Peter BackmanFeb 141 minEating in on Valentine's Day?Casual Dining is a phrase you don’t hear much nowadays. In the ancient, pre-covid days it was of course heard everywhere. And, again in...
Peter BackmanFeb 71 minNormality unlikely to return until the end of 2023...In this issue of Weekly Briefing Report, I share my heat map. The virus is back and the graph shows a large spike with growth of over...
Peter BackmanJan 311 minSales are vanity; profit is sanity; cash is reality…We know how the saying goes. But, what are sales… and how do we measure them and their changes? LfL, GTV… at the moment, all of it is...
Peter BackmanJan 241 minWhat if no-one comes to the party?According to the government (and to be fair, the official statistics) the economy is growing nicely. So what happens if people continue...
Peter BackmanJan 171 minDecember down -20% vs 2019I’ve been taken to task over the past week for not attaching any figures to the state of the foodservice sector in the run-up to...
Peter BackmanJan 101 minA sober start, but is optimism around the corner?The year seems to have begun on quite a sombre note. However, I believe, despite yet more challenges, there are reasons and...
Peter BackmanDec 13, 20211 minChickenisation is one to watchChicken features as the main product from 62% of newly created dark kitchens in the past year. And, with the publication of my latest...
Peter BackmanDec 6, 20211 minAre you prepared for omicron?Omicron (or “omnivore” as some spellcheckers will have it) has come out of the blue – or has it? Scientists (and politicians) have,...