A major food and drink wholesaler has predicted that Scottish pubs and bars are in for their "busiest festive season ever" amid the first restriction-free Christmas since 2019.
Dunns Food and Drinks, a leading Scottish supplier, is predicting that the Christmas season will be a much-needed boost for the hospitality sector as the 2022 World Cup gets underway.
The Qatar World Cup will start on November 20 and is predicted to increase footfall as revellers flock to bars to see the footballing tournament.
World Cup to cause hospitality boost
This means that bars could be at their busiest in almost three years, making it hard to place bookings for drinks and casual meals over this period.
READ MORE: Working from the pub is an idea whose time has come
READ MORE: Challenge for Tim Martin, Wetherspoon, as pubs for sale
Julie Dunn, Operations Director at Dunns Food and Drinks, said: “The hospitality industry will be looking forward to an extra boost after a difficult few years.
“If a much-welcomed World Cup sales boom were to come to fruition - despite Scotland failing to make the finals - it would certainly provide some certainty to bars, pubs, and restaurants across the country.”
However, despite some optimism, Dunns, like every other business in the hospitality sector is staying cautious.
“We only have to go back to last Christmas to be reminded of how quickly things can change when the toughest COVID restrictions were brought back in at the last minute.
“We’re also not naive to the current cost of living crisis. Inflation, energy price spikes and the shortage of labour are all impacting businesses - including our own - up and down the country.
“With the World Cup and the prospect of a more ‘normal’ Christmas, we feel there’s plenty to be positive about in comparison to 2021 and we’re hopeful for our greatest ever festive season."
To help firms prepare for this expected rise in pub going, Dunns is hosting its biggest-ever industry trade show in Glasgow tomorrow (Tuesday, October 25), giving industry figures the chance to show off their products ahead of December.
The Discovery 2022 event is taking place at Platform, 253 Argyle Street, and is free.
However, due to limited spaces, attendees will have to register here.
To find out more about Dunns Food and Drinks, please visit their website.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here