The lure of cut-price steak was bound to be hit among a nation that has spent months regarding dry pasta as a rare luxury.

So it should come as little surprise that Rishi Sunak’s £500m Eat Out to Help Out scheme has served up 35 million customers in its first two weeks. It is proving to be a lifeline to an industry that was brought to its knees by coronavirus.

The Monday-to-Wednesday half-price meal initative – designed to kickstart the hospitality industry after lockdown – has undoubtedly been successful in getting Brits back into the habit of using bars, restaurants and cafés again, and over the initial fear of going back to such venues.

It’s also putting money back into one of the industries hardest hit by Covid-19.

Growing confidence among diners is boosting the tills of the 85,000 venues that have signed up to take part so far. And that – as The Grocer reported this week – is providing a much-needed cash injection to foodservice wholesalers supplying the hospitality industry. 

Sales data from the Federation of Wholesale Distributors shows members’ sales increased by 20% after the first week of the half-price meal offer, with some wholesalers reporting sales gains of up to 50% over the same period.

Those fortunate enough to supply businesses in ‘staycation’ hotspots have seen sales outstrip last August in the past two weeks.

The fear, of course, is that this surge will be capped come the end of next week, when the EOTHO scheme is set to finish.

The FWD’s CEO James Bielby says the initiative has provided “life support” for the wholesale industry, and warns these businesses cannot be “abandoned” again.

These fears are, sadly, justifiable. 

Unlike the restaurants, cafés, leisure centres, pubs and hotels they supply – and the retailers who made hay during lockdown – wholesalers don’t qualify for business rates relief. 

Despite a hard-fought campaign spearheaded by the FWD and supported by dozens of cross-party MPs including Keir Starmer’s office, the funding was never extended to the wholesale sector.

In fact, EOTHO is the first financial help from government these businesses have received throughout the crisis, other than the universal job retention scheme.

Many wholesalers were forced to launch direct-to-consumer businesses almost overnight in a bid to keep their heads above water after 95% of their customer base was shuttered.

Some didn’t survive. And for others, their fate still hangs in the balance as consultations, business strategy and ‘future-proofing’ are being conducted behind closed doors.

Not even the sector’s biggest players Bidfood and Brakes are immune, with both scaling back headcount to balance the books.

Sombre figures from the FWD show half of its members surveyed in May expected to fold by the end of the year.

So it is no wonder there are already calls for EOTHO to be extended. It’s working, and businesses want more of it.

There could well be an argument for extending it for another month, especially as the staycation boom is set to come to an end with schools reopening in September.

But it’s not a long-term solution, nor should it be. 

The taxpayer can’t keep picking up the tab for people’s McDonald’s. Or steak, which is proving to be a popular menu choice as thrifty customers seek out more expensive options to make the most of the deal, The Grocer understands.

Instead, Sunak must address the desperate lack of ongoing sector-specific support for the industry. 

Question marks over school catering from September, the furlough scheme coming to an end, local lockdowns and a second wave over the winter triggering a further national lockdown are all scenarios threatening to derail companies that are just beginning to get back on track. And then there’s Brexit.

If the government doesn’t act to give these businesses some long-term financial help, there is a risk Sunak’s half a billion-pound spend on the EOTHO scheme would have been futile.

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