Christmas will once again see the return to the traditional demands of luxury and indulgence, however, unlike last year, value for money will not be a priority for 68% of consumers[1]. Instead, they will be seeking a high-quality offering when eating and drinking out of home this festive season.

To support such an important time for the hospitality industry, one of the UK’s leading wholesalers, Bidfood, commissioned its own research around consumer decision-making when eating and drinking out this Christmas period.

Based on this, Bidfood has provided a comprehensive festive range that encompasses high-quality Christmas classics, 25 of which offer customers the chance to save up to £175 in the New Year through a newly launched Star Deals promotion.

Consumer priorities  

Compared to last year, 2024 will see an increase in consumers (20%) who see eating and drinking out as their primary way of socialising, ramping up what is already a busy period for hospitality workers. To help balance increased pressures, whilst still providing quality, Bidfood has developed dishes that provide a sense of luxury without taking up resources. Classic Cuisine Blacksticks blue soufflé will be sure to tantalise taste buds, whilst Mademoiselle Desserts white forest roulade, served with smooth cream and fresh berries is sure to be a hit, it’s the perfect sweet treat to end the meal.

Consumers are expecting premium meats and vegetables, with descriptors such as ‘fresh’, ‘quality’ and ‘local’ drawing their attention on menus. Bidfood’s range covers this demand with a number of options such as the turkey paupiette, Farmstead Red Tractor British beef fillet chain off, Everyday Favourites baby carrots and sweet honey glazed roast parsnips.

Giving back this festive season

As well as its new festive range, Bidfood wanted to embrace one of its ‘key ingredients’ – real value, by giving something back this Christmas and New Year. Launching a new Star Deals promotion, which focuses on 25 festive best-sellers, Bidfood customers can save up to £175 on their January and February orders based on the number of Star Deal products they order in November and December. It comes at a crucial time for the industry when like-for-like sales show little growth. Just this year, hospitality groups reported year-on-year like-for-like sales growth of 0.1% in January, reflecting consumer spending during the 2023 festive season[2].

Antonia Baker, Campaign & Activation Manager at Bidfood commented:

“With a variety of new and returning products that stretch across a whole host of categories, including on-the-go, desserts, meat-free and of course luxury and quality, consumers will be spoilt for choice this festive season.

“Bidfood’s 2024 range seeks to assist and simplify the lives of operators over what is always a hectic period, whilst also offering delicious food to consumers, working to deliver the best festive period ever.

“We’ve also thought ahead while planning this year’s Christmas campaign and standing by our key ingredients to deliver service excellence, real value and a passion for food, introduced our Star Deals promotion. We know that after all the big spending at Christmas, consumers’ eating out habits will drop in the New Year and subsequently business for operators. This promotion will give our customers the chance to recover and grow during this January-February lull.

“I’m also incredibly excited about our new gingerbread range as ginger is the festive flavour set to dominate this Christmas. We’ve taken inspiration from this spice to create our very own gingerbread village scene, which features on the front page of our Christmas brochure. Keep an eye out as it’ll also become the latest livery addition to our iconic fleet of vehicles to operate during the festive season!”

[1] Bidfood and 3Gem Christmas research, 2024

[2] RSM UK, February 2024