The group says the decision to reboot the scheme, which was used by the Government in the summer of 2020 to entice diners back into restaurants following the first Coronavirus lockdown, is reflective of the threats currently facing restaurants including rising costs, increased regulations and falling consumer confidence.
Running throughout April, the promotion will see Wildwood and Dim T restaurants offering customers 50% off food and drink, up to £10 per person, every Monday to Wednesday.
The only difference noted by the group is that this time it is subsidising the scheme itself, rather than the Government doing so as was the case in 2020.
“We are committed to making dining out a more accessible experience for everyone, because we believe that good food should be something that brings people together, not something that feels out of reach and we want to attract the early and mid-week trade back,” says Jonny Plant, CEO of Tasty PLC.
More than 100 million meals were claimed in total by diners under the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which ran across August 2020.
The promotion was credited with rejuvenating restaurant trade following the impact of the first Covid lockdown, with Tasty describing it as ‘the most successful ever promotion’.
Data provided by OpenTable at the time showed that the number of diners at UK restaurants were consistently higher between Mondays and Wednesdays in August 2020 compared to the previous year, with covers up more than 60% some weeks.
Tasty adds that it decided to run its new EOTHO promotion in April to coincide with the increases in Employers’ National Insurance contributions (NIC) and the National Minimum Wage (NMW), which has seen business confidence across the hospitality sector fall to its lowest level in two years.
“With the backdrop of spiralling prices, increased taxes and higher labour costs we needed to take drastic action to turn the tide and grow sales during our quieter times,” Plant continues.
“We decided to relaunch the most successful promotion of all time to bring back customers to the early part of the week and keep people in jobs and give them the hours they need.”
Tasty operates 34 restaurants across the Dim T and Wildwood brands.