For many of us, the thought that a supermarket ready meal could ever stack up against dinner out at an upmarket steakhouse would seem laughable.

Now though, Tesco is trying to convince the public that they can have just as good a time at home.

The supermarket has launched a posh new steakhouse range that includes expensive wagyu and Aberdeen Angus beef complete with chef’s tips, wine pairings, and even meat thermometer cooking instructions.

The products are explicitly touted as a cheaper alternative to a restaurant meal.

It’s just one example of how Britain’s supermarkets are battling it out to convince shoppers that they can do “restaurant quality” food as they push to lure shoppers away from increasingly expensive meals out.

Sensing opportunity in the struggles of the restaurant industry – which has been buffeted by everything from soaring energy to labour costs – supermarkets have launched new, high-end offerings meant to fill the gap. While pricey, they are still cheaper than a night out.

“More and more customers [are] looking to recreate the restaurant at home experience,” says Tesco product development director Breige Donaghy.

At £15.12 (or £37.80 per kilogram), a 400g salt dry-aged beef sirloin steak from Tesco may cause shoppers on a strict budget to baulk, but it is still a fraction of the £40 or so that would cost in a London steakhouse (Hawksmoor, for instance, would charge £42 for a similar steak of that size).

Waitrose, too, has launched a new range of wagyu beef products it claims have the highest possible amount of beef marbling – seen as a sign of a steak’s quality – available in a British supermarket.

When Marks & Spencer first launched its upmarket dine-in deals in 2008 as a more affordable alternative to eating out, the indulgent ready meals were an outlier in the supermarkets. Now offers like this are common – and shoppers are lapping them up.

“A significant element of the market is starting to trade up in what they eat,” says Clive Black, a director at stockbroker Shore Capital, who follows the sector.

“They’re more foodie, are doing more scratch cooking or more ‘assembled’ cooking and they’re paying more for their ingredients.”

Tesco said in October that volumes of its “Finest” product – the top of its range – rose by 14.9pc over the six months to Aug 24, making Finest a £2bn brand in its own right. New dishes include pulled beef with chianti sauce and flame-seared chicken & portobello mushroom risotto.

Waitrose has relaunched its most expensive “No. 1” range and says sales of its most premium products are up 34pc year on year.

A few months ago it acquired Dishpatch, a meal kit delivery service it claims “replicates a restaurant experience without leaving the house” by offering dishes created by chefs such as Rick Stein, Angela Hartnett and Michel Roux.

Marks & Spencer, meanwhile, has partnered with Tom Kerridge to launch a gastropub ready-meal range that includes braised beef cheeks with herb dumplings and star anise glazed carrots, cottage pie and beer-battered Scottish haddock.

Kathryn Turner, the director of product at M&S food, says a third of its customers say they are buying more premium food brands instead of eating out.

Even Asda has launched a new “Exceptional” range in an attempt to cash in.

Of course, chef tie-ups and premium meal deals are not a new phenomenon.

Waitrose began working with Heston Blumenthal in 2010 (although they parted ways in 2022 amid suggestions that his increasingly experimental dishes were falling out of favour with its middle-class shoppers) and it is hard to name a supermarket that Jamie Oliver has not collaborated with.

However, the increasing volume of such tie-ups and increase in premium offerings on shelves is notable.

While shoppers are keen, the trend represents yet another headwind for the beleaguered hospitality sector. Restaurants have been hammered by the soaring cost of ingredients, fuel and wages in recent years – necessitating significant price increases.

“Frankly, there has been a perfect storm in the last two or three years,” says Black at Shore Capital.

Menu prices in the biggest chains rose by 4.5pc in the second quarter of 2024 compared with the prior year, according to Lumina Intelligence.

Data suggests this has contributed to a real-terms drop in spending: growth at Britain’s leading restaurant and pub groups has slowed to about 1.3pc, according to CGA – significantly below the current rate of inflation.

Bosses have warned that the ceiling of what they can feasibly charge diners without losing them altogether has already been reached. They are finding creative ways to cut costs instead, such as having fewer staff on shifts or closing more days of the week.

“There are two things here: one is the cost of eating out, but equally the availability of places to eat out is more constrained,” says Black. “An awful lot of places don’t open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday now.”

Whether or not supermarkets can actually live up to their promise of “restaurant quality” is up for debate. Chefs argue the skill of a trained cook and the experience of hospitality is simply unmatchable at home.

“If people are saving money, great, go and get your ready-meal and sit in front of the TV and enjoy it,” says Dominic Chapman, chef patron of The Crown in Burchetts Green, Berkshire.

“But you can’t really compare to a chef of my experience buying a beautiful turbot, cooking it beautifully, and presenting it to a customer, and the smile and the enjoyment.”

Home kitchens also lack the specialist equipment needed to deliver true restaurant-level quality, he argues.

“You’re not going to be Hawksmoor, because Hawksmoor steaks are absolutely brilliant, and if you can do a better one at home, then you may as well set up a restaurant.”

Simon Stenning, hospitality consultant and director of Future Foodservice, says mid-tier restaurants and casual dining chains are most vulnerable to the supermarket offensive because the customers of these venues are most sensitive to price.

“When [people] go out, what they’re looking for are the swankier restaurants, the ones that are making them feel incredibly good about not just the meal, but the whole occasion,” he says.

Many in the hospitality industry argue supermarkets already have an unfair advantage over pubs and restaurants courtesy of the taxman.

Most of the food and drink sold in the supermarkets are not subject to VAT, while those purchased in a restaurant, pub or take away are charged at the standard rate of 20pc.

Sir Tim Martin, the chairman of JD Wetherspoon and a vocal critic of this arrangement, has repeatedly called for “tax equality” between hospitality and supermarkets, arguing it has made life harder for pubs and encouraged people to eat out and socialise less.

With fears mounting over the impact of expected tax rises in Rachel Reeves’s coming Budget, a squeeze on middle earners could play even further into the hands of the supermarkets.

Stenning says: “It’s the hard workers with the broader shoulders who are going to be hit, and unfortunately that means it’s going to exacerbate this situation for restaurants.”

For those to whom the thought of a night in with a Tesco Côte du Boeuf appeals more than a visit to a busy steakhouse, the supermarket recommends pairing it with a bottle of Finest Margaux. Just be sure not to overcook it.