Does the hospitality industry carry the responsibility of the health of the nation?
But are we just becoming more aware and educated about our health and well-being as a nation and are actually healthier than we ever have been? Some research suggests we are becoming healthier whilst others contradict and suggest we have still several major problems we still need to address. Unequivocally, both viewpoints and the discourse surrounding impact the hospitality industry. Currently, 63% of adults in England are overweight or living with obesity and 40% of children leave primary school either obese or overweight, constituting to the governments focus to tackle obesity.
Legislation has enforced larger operators to label calories on their menus, and research has suggested that some consumers who are calorie conscious would choose to share a dish if the calorie content felt too high for them. Is there a chance that consumers becoming more calorie conscious will have a knock-on effect on revenue for hospitality operators?
In the 1960s, around 70% of men and 40% of women smoked in the UK with it being socially acceptable to smoke everywhere, on buses, at work and even at schools. They have estimated with the current trends that 2023 will see an all time low, with between only 8.5% and 11.7% of people smoking. Tobacco use is considered the leading cause of cancer, so can we not assume we are healthier than ever with smoking being less commonplace?
Smoking being seen as ‘trendy’ at one time, is now more of a rarity but with one trend decreasing, is obesity on the rise?The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many changes within society, including an increase in hybrid working. Hybrid working allows us to cut down on non-productive work-related activities like commuting allowing for more time to be spent on health, fitness, and well-being. A study by IWG has shown that hybrid workers are sleeping longer and eating better than ever before, so are we actually healthier than we think? One of the key findings by the IWG study on hybrid workers found that a quarter out of the 2,000 participants, had lost 20 pounds or more. So, is the dawn of hybrid working environments helping us become a healthier nation?
Research suggested that the food people eat outside the home makes up between 20-25% of their calorie intake, making it logical requirement from the governments perspective to require larger hospitality operators to display calories on menus. Will this legislation in time see more pitfalls for the industry, or are we assisting as an industry educating the nation on becoming more aware of food choices and the percentage, they make up of your reference intakes?
Education of people does not come overnight; it can take a generation for knowledge to be shared and seen as commonplace and accepted. The hospitality industry is doing their bit to educate individuals on calorie input. The question is whether we will see a reduction over the coming years in obesity levels due to changing working trends and general shared knowledge on healthy lifestyle habits.
