More than £300m a month would be wiped from Britain’s takeaway trade if rest of UK follows Scotland’s lead and bans click and collect: More than £300m a month would be wiped from Britain’s takeaway trade if the rest of the UK follows Scotland’s lead and closes click and collect services, according to research by insights firm The NPD Group. Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has banned people from drinking outside and making non-essential click-and-collect orders as she tightened Scotland's lockdown still further. From Saturday (16 January) people picking up takeaway meals will be barred from entering eateries, instead having to wait outside, she told the Scottish parliament. Alcohol consumption outdoors in all level four areas of Scotland will be banned, under new regulations, meaning anyone who buys takeaway alcohol must consume it in their own home. Ministers have discussed banning click and collect services in England everywhere apart from supermarkets and “essential retail” should current restrictions fail to bring down infection rates – but as yet have not imposed such measures. The NPD Group said in November, during the previous lockdown, total click and collect takeaway, was worth £328m – 13% of the total spend on out-of-home eating that month. Meanwhile, app/online only ordering in November was worth £131m – 5% of total spend on all out-of-home eating. In the 12 months to November 2020, click and collect for takeaways was worth £2.9bn – 7% of total spend on out of home eating. Click and collect grew 45% in the three months to November 2020, to represent 9% of total spend, as consumers switched buyer behaviour, and operators became more reliant on this order channel for trade during lockdowns and tiering. In the three months to November 2020 the total takeaway market – click and collect as well as walk-up orders – declined 27% to a value of £13.7bn. That was 3.4 billion visits, down 42% on 2019. Dominic Allport, insights director (foodservice), The NPD Group, said: “The impact of a government-imposed closure of click and collect takeaway meals would be devastating to the restaurant trade, especially the small independents that so many Brits frequent up and down the country. Many of these operators have invested heavily to continue to provide takeaway meals to their customers during an extremely challenging time, and the public has responded by increasing their use of click and collect. It’s no exaggeration to say for the local restaurants particularly, click and collect is now the difference between survival and closure.”