UK Restaurant and Pub Visits Drop As Fast-Food Chains Expand
Image Credit – Unsplash
British diners are increasingly choosing fast-casual and premium fast-food options over traditional pub and restaurant meals, according to Meaningful Vision’s full-year 2025 data. The report, which tracks consumer traffic, pricing, promotions, and store openings across more than 60,000 UK fast-food and casual-dining outlets, found that restaurant and pub visits declined by 6.8% last year, whereas fast-food outlet visits increased by 0.9%.
Growth in the fast-food sector was driven primarily by expansion, with the number of fast-food outlets rising by nearly 2% in 2025. Like-for-like fast-food visits, excluding the impact of new openings, declined by 1%. Bakeries accounted for the highest number of new store openings, with Greggs launching the most new locations among fast-food brands. Popeyes was the fastest-growing brand in percentage terms as its UK expansion continued.
Performance varied across fast-food segments. Chicken restaurants saw a 5.9% year-on-year increase in footfall, coffee shops grew by 3.6%, and bakery and sandwich shops rose by 2.6%. Burger chain visits fell by 2.9%, and ethnic fast-food formats declined by 1.6%.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that UK food and beverage prices rose by 4.5% year-on-year between December 2024 and 2025, equating to a 1.2% increase for the calendar year. Fast-food prices increased at a faster rate, with a 7.7% year-on-year rise to December and a 2.6% increase for 2025, more than double the rate of retail food and beverage inflation.
Higher foodservice costs, including labour, property taxes, and food input prices, contributed to these price increases. Labour costs account for up to 35% of operating costs in the sector. Rising beef prices led to burger outlets recording the steepest year-on-year menu price increases of approximately 10%, whereas the pizza segment recorded the lowest increase at 3%.
The data indicates a shift in consumer behaviour, with more people opting for fast food and fast-casual options as inflation affects the affordability of traditional dining out. The expansion of brands such as Greggs and Popeyes, and the strong performance of chicken and bakery segments, reflect these changing preferences in the UK foodservice market.
Categories: Other