Despite Higher Prices, UK Quick Service Restaurants See Rising Demand

British quick service restaurants (QSR) are raising their prices amid a rising demand as commuters begin returning to their office jobs.

As The Financial Times reported Tuesday (May 24), Greencore — the largest sandwich-maker in the U.K. — says demand had returned to 91% of pre-pandemic levels even though the company was passing on the “vast majority” of price increases to diners.

And SSP, which owns Upper Crust and Caffè Ritazza, said that while it was immune from some inflationary pressure due to long-term contracts, it was inevitable “there will be upward pressure on prices.”

Companies that rely on office workers traveling to cities and worldwide for meetings were hit hard by the pandemic. Even as life returns to something resembling the pre-COVID era, these businesses now face a rocky road to recovery amid sharp rises in food, labor and energy costs.

But many of these companies have said that more people returning to offices than expected in recent weeks, and spending more when they do, has helped sales return to 2019 levels.

Another company, The Restaurant Group, said Tuesday that a stronger than expected recovery in its travel concessions was balancing rising food and drink costs. Sales were 11% below 2019 levels in the three months to May 15, it said, warning that food price inflation was likely to hit between 9% and 10% this year, up from its earlier 5% estimate.

See also: Aggregators’ Growth Shows Delivery Habits Buck the Great Reopening

Greencore said it was trying to source cheaper alternative ingredients and was making some redundancies to offset rising costs, but declined to say how many jobs that would involve.

Meanwhile, the great reopening hasn’t dampened consumers’ to get doorstep delivery of essentials, as PYMNTS reported recently.

Companies like DoorDash and Uber reported results that show that double-digit growth has been the norm even as the pandemic fades somewhat and restrictions and lockdowns are eased. While growth rates are slowing, it must be noted that the slowdowns are lapping the spring of 2021, which in turn had shown triple-digit growth.

DoorDash’s revenues in the latest quarter were up 35% year over year. Earnings materials from the company show orders rose 23% in the same period, while total marketplace gross order value climbed 25%. Uber, meanwhile, said that Eats gross bookings were up 31%, with delivery numbers going up by 23%.