UK"s appetite for gourmet takeaway fuels restaurant delivery boom

“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food,” the late celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme once said. But these days, you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your living room, as more and more restaurants offer take-out options to cash in on the growing market for fine dining at home.

The demand for home deliveries of ready-to-eat food grew 10 times faster than for dining out last year, according to figures released on Thursday, and food delivery apps specialising in restaurant-quality meals have seen a huge jump in popularity.

According to analysts NPD Group, the delivery sector rose almost 10% to 599m visits in the UK last year, while total visits to restaurants and other dining venues rose by just 1%. The delivery channel was worth £3.6bn last year, a 6% increase on 2015 and 50% more than in 2008.

NPD noted that even pubs were part of the home-delivery revolution by partnering with brands such as Deliveroo, Just Eat, Hungry House and UberEats. While British pubs only accounted for 4% of the delivery market, they increased their delivery visits by 59% over the previous year.

Deliveroo, which was founded by William Shu and Greg Orlowski in 2013 and now operates in 120 cities in 12 countries, said its orders grew by 650% in 2016. This included 20% more lunch orders, 20% more deliveries on a Monday, 10% more deliveries on Monday to Wednesday, and a 34% increase in people ordering healthy dishes, suggesting restaurant-style deliveries were seen less and less as an indulgent weekend treat.

The company is partnering with new restaurants every week and employs more than 1,000 people. Popular chains that have joined Deliveroo in the last 12 months include Five Guys, Cafe Rouge, Franco Manca, Ottolenghi, Farmacy, Sticks’n’Sushi and Pizza Pilgrims.

Restaurant chains such as Franco Manca are taking advantage of the surge in demand for food delivery. Photograph: Michelle Grant/Rex/Shutterstock

The latter’s management say they joined Deliveroo to try new technology and make customers happier. “For some people pizza is the ultimate takeaway, while others see it as a casual dining out option, so working with Deliveroo just allowed us to please as many people as possible,” said Michael Dench, the chain’s operations director.

One restaurant group, London rotisserie Clockjack, opened a delivery-only kitchen last year to cater solely for Deliveroo orders.

The NPD study found the average bill for delivered food was just £1 lower than for a meal eaten on the premises. However, the difference was bigger for some operators such as local Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Italian or Mexican restaurants at £12 for a meal on the premises versus £6.90 for delivery.

Cyril Lavenant, NPD’s UK food service director, said: “Ordering ready-to-eat food for delivery via an app or by phone is growing so fast that eating in is becoming the new eating out. It goes beyond getting delivery of conventional takeaway food because full-service restaurants are offering delivery too.”

A spokesman for Deliveroo said it was not replacing the dine-in experience, rather complementing it by bringing a new breadth of choice to the delivery market. “We work with thousands of restaurants that traditionally did not offer food delivery, creating £200m in added revenue for the restaurant industry in 2016,” he said.

But it’s not all good news. Cancer Research UK has warned of the risks of weight gain and obesity linked to the consumption of fast food and ready meals, which tend to have a high calorie content and higher levels of fat and sugar.

Figures released on Friday by the charity show that at least 79m ready meals and 22m fast-food and takeaway meals are eaten weekly by adults in the UK. Young adults aged 18-24 are more likely to rely on convenience meals, and are seven times more likely to indulge in fast food and takeaways at least once a week compared with the over-65s.

Alison Cox, Cancer Research UK’s director of prevention, said the figures showed that “grab and go” foods and a growing appetite for takeaways and ready meals were helping to propel people towards an epidemic of larger waistlines.

“The whole food industry needs to step up and commit to working with government to cut the amount of fat and sugar in our food. This would make it that bit easier for all of us to become healthier and reduce our cancer risks,” she said.

UK"s appetite for gourmet takeaway fuels restaurant delivery boom

6 Common Nutrient Deficiencies That Increase Cravings and Appetite

6 Common Nutrient Deficiencies That Increase Cravings and Appetite

Healthy appetite for medical gadgets

“If you’re hiding your keep track of due to the fact it doesn’t appear appealing, you are a lot more very likely to overlook to consider a reading through,” a spokeswoman says. “If it appears like a great gadget but offers you dependable health care data, that’s excellent.”

Blood pressure monitors are not the only health care machines currently being turned into completely-linked gadgets.

Danish firm GN ReSound has designed a hearing assist compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, via which wearers can stream stereo audio right into their ears.

Lightweight and nigh-on invisible when fitted, the LiNX’s mini receiver is designed to be worn comfortably behind the ear and held in spot by a delicate tube which wraps into the ear. Wearers can modify volume, treble and bass settings by means of their cellphone or tablet,without drawing interest to the fact they’re wearing a hearing support.

Through GPS, walking into a distinct pre-set area will trigger a likelihood in settings, this kind of as escalating the volume when getting into a restaurant. The identical spot perform can be employed to support find a missing LiNX must it come loose from its owner’s ear.

Charlie Parker Bonnett was born with a hearing impairment, and has worn hearing aids because he was one-and-a-half-many years previous. Now 28, he has a career in the innovative industries, and optimising his hearing is is a much more of a priority than ever prior to.

“My mum is also deaf, and I’ve worn a variety of diverse hearing aids all through my existence,” he says. Mr Parker Bonnett’s girlfriend bought the LiNX for him two months in the past, and he’s been using it ever because.

“It’s a lot more discreet than ones I’ve worn in the past, and currently being capable to alter sound levels employing my telephone if I’m sitting following to a noisy particular person in a restaurant means it’s not immediately obvious what I’m performing,” he says. “If something, it would seem to have provided me a hearing advantage as I can often pick up on factors men and women who aren’t wearing hearing aids cannot.”

Even though the methods in which we care for our bodies are undoubtedly changing, it’s the quiet revolution inside of the units we’ve previously ignored that may just surprise us the most.

Healthy appetite for medical gadgets

A wholesome appetite for medical devices

“If you are hiding your monitor due to the fact it doesn’t appear appealing, you’re far more most likely to forget to get a studying,” a spokeswoman says. “If it seems like a cool gadget but offers you dependable health-related information, that’s best.”

Blood strain monitors aren’t the only medical machines becoming turned into entirely-connected devices.

Danish company GN ReSound has designed a hearing help compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, by means of which wearers can stream stereo audio immediately into their ears.

Light-weight and nigh-on invisible as soon as fitted, the LiNX’s mini receiver is designed to be worn comfortably behind the ear and held in place by a delicate tube which wraps into the ear. Wearers can change volume, treble and bass settings via their cellphone or tablet,without having drawing consideration to the truth they’re wearing a hearing support.

By way of GPS, walking into a distinct pre-set spot will set off a opportunity in settings, this kind of as rising the volume when entering a restaurant. The identical place function can be utilized to aid find a missing LiNX must it come loose from its owner’s ear.

Charlie Parker Bonnett was born with a hearing impairment, and has worn hearing aids given that he was one-and-a-half-many years previous. Now 28, he has a career in the creative industries, and optimising his hearing is is a far more of a priority than ever prior to.

“My mum is also deaf, and I’ve worn a range of distinct hearing aids all through my existence,” he says. Mr Parker Bonnett’s girlfriend bought the LiNX for him two months in the past, and he’s been making use of it ever considering that.

“It’s much more discreet than ones I’ve worn in the past, and being able to adjust sound ranges making use of my phone if I’m sitting up coming to a noisy particular person in a restaurant implies it’s not quickly clear what I’m doing,” he says. “If something, it looks to have provided me a hearing benefit as I can frequently select up on items individuals who aren’t wearing hearing aids can not.”

While the techniques in which we care for our bodies are undoubtedly altering, it is the quiet revolution within the products we’ve previously overlooked that may well just shock us the most.

A wholesome appetite for medical devices

An appetite for food awareness

The school gardener, a retired head teacher, assures that all young children have the possibility to grow vegetables as component of the college curriculum.

Hawkins is ahead of her time – and not just because her pupils have their very own children’s kitchen location. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced that from September, each kid in Reception, Year One and Yr Two in state-funded colleges will get a free of charge college lunch from a £1 billion fund.

This concept of totally free college meals for principal schools was a important recommendation in the College Meals Prepare – the July 2013 overview of college meals provision.

The plan supplied evidence that college meals would lead to optimistic improvements in well being, attainment and social cohesion as properly as assisting households with the cost of residing. That is why Hawkins would like her kids, and personnel who look right after them, thinking about meals ahead of the September lunch date.

At current, nearly twenty per cent of Christ Church pupils obtain cost-free college meals. But the focus at the school now is on knowledge and nutrition as nicely as provision.

At the auction evening that raised funds to assistance organic meat at the college for two many years, the keynote speaker was the multiple Michelin-starred local chef Tom Aikens. He informed the audience that: “Feeding our young children is offering fuel for their future – and the very best way to feed them is by providing wholesome, nutritious foods – prepared by people who care.”

Hawkins eats with the children every lunchtime. As well as creating confident that pupils learn about in which meals comes from and that they consume wholesome food, she is keen to get them cooking at their Thursday Cooking Club, as nicely as finding out about other aspects of getting ready and serving food by way of operating their personal pop-up restaurant.

“The pop-up touched on so a lot of components of the nationwide curriculum,” Hawkins explained. “It was appreciated by the mothers and fathers as well – they came for two sittings. The pupils planned and cooked the meals themselves, designed the menus, served the food, waited at tables and asked for suggestions.”

The pop up was inspired by sessions with the nationwide charity Chefs Adopt A School. Founded in 1990 by the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, the charity reaches much more than 21,000 children every yr, and attempts to add practical schooling to the raised awareness of foods that comes with continuous cookery programmes on tv.

At Christ Church the sessions, for Year 3 and Year 4 pupils aged 7 and 8, were integrated into the school’s science and private and social curriculum and dealt with food provenance, healthy consuming, hygiene and the value of cooking and consuming together.

The “Front of House” session was delivered by Jean-Claude Breton, restaurant director at Chelsea’s Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, collectively with Sarah Howard, the charity’s development chef. Pupils have been handed a menu and asked to determine the wholesome choices. They mentioned the role of the sommelier, the correct use of cutlery and what a restaurant wants from diners to run efficiently.

For Breton, the session ignited imaginations: “In my encounter, it is important for youngsters to enjoy the value of appropriate dining habits as early as attainable,” he mentioned. “The youngsters stunned me with some questions – such as how numerous covers we had every single night.”

The connections with top-good quality dining establishments and leading-title chefs carry on to proliferate. Hawkins has lately met Raymond Blanc, and Aikens strategies to adhere to up his functionality at the natural meat fundraiser by teaching the pupils how to make pancakes. He will also be partnering with them on The Foods for Daily life programme, element of a network of colleges and communities committed to transforming food culture.

Celebrity chefs are not the only lovers for the school’s approach – parents have become accurate believers too. Nick Smith, is the father of 7-year-outdated Amelia (Year 3) and Esther, aged 5, in Year one.

“Children learning about their foods in a garden will aid them finish what’s on the plate, we hope,” he stated. “We need to try to get our kids out of the supermarkets and into the fields and farms, to aid them realize why our obsession with low cost meals can harm the countryside.”

For the headmistress there is no room for complacency in the quest for understanding about foods and the art of eating. Hawkins’s newest initiative includes kids from Reception and Year six generating each and every other a healthier snack when a week to have soon after school. Her greatest aim? “For all children to visit the kitchen, see their lunch currently being produced, deliver backyard vegetables to the chef and cook recipes from the web site at house. We are just beginning.” A virtuous hors d’oeuvre.

An appetite for food awareness

Babies with a hearty appetite at danger of weight problems, research claims

Lead scientist Professor Jane Wardle, from the Overall health Behaviour Analysis Centre at University School London, explained: “Obesity is a key situation in youngster health.

“Identifying elements that advertise or safeguard towards excess weight obtain could aid identify targets for weight problems intervention and prevention in long term.

“These findings are very potent because we have been evaluating kids of the exact same age and very same sex growing up in the exact same family in order to reveal the function that appetite plays in infant development.

“It may make existence simple to have a infant with a hearty appetite, but as she grows up, dad and mom could require to be alert for tendencies to be relatively in excess of-responsive to meals cues in the setting, or somewhat unresponsive to fullness.

“This behaviour could put her at danger of gaining bodyweight quicker than is great for her.”

The findings appear in the journal JAMA Pediatrics alongside a 2nd research by one more University School London (UCL) crew from the Well being Behaviour Investigation Centre.

Genetic information from 2,258 ten-12 months-olds had been utilised to create scores for obesity susceptibility.

The “polygenic obesity threat” (PRS) ratings were based on the variety of high-threat variants between 28 obesity-connected genes in every single little one.

Dr Clare Llewellyn of UCL, who led the research, explained: “As expected, we found that kids with a larger PRS score were probably to have greater BMI (physique mass index) and waist circumference.

“But a lot more importantly, we also located that these kids were far more probably to have low satiety responsiveness.

“This suggests that satiety responsiveness could be targeted for pharmacological and behavioural interventions, to prevent or deal with weight problems.

“For example, kids with decrease satiety sensitivity could be taught techniques that may well increase their fullness signals when consuming, this kind of as slowing their eating velocity.”

Babies with a hearty appetite at danger of weight problems, research claims