The growth has not all been due to replacing cooking at home but has been further encouraged by media coverage and the celebrity chefs,experience of new cuisines while on holiday abroad and by the increasing variety of possible eating out venues.
From an estimated spend on eating out in 2006 of some E29 billion, the sector is expected to grow to nearly E37 billion in 2012.
There does appear to be a clear split in the market between operations offering excellent value and being able to compete with home cooking on price and those up-market operations, including the gastropubs, where people are prepared to pay, quite hige prices for the more luxurious and indulgent choices. this has left the middle of the market, the casual dining operations, as a particularly dynamic and innovative but especially competitive sector.