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Restaurant Statistics in 2023: Britain’s Favourite Bites

In this article, we take a close look at how the restaurant sector has done in 2023, exploring the top likes and dislikes of British consumers.

The coronavirus crisis and subsequent lockdowns may have put a temporary stop to dining out, but now that the world has opened up, restaurant visits are firmly on the menu once again.

A quick overview of the UK’s restaurant sector:

How many restaurants are there in the UK?

According to the Office for National Statistics, in March 2023 there were 88,310 restaurants, cafes, bars, and pubs in the UK. This figure includes both licenced and unlicenced restaurants - that's approximately 1 food outlet for every 767 UK adults.

The market value of UK restaurants reached £18.7 billion in 2023, which is still below pre-pandemic levels, but reporting growth.

What are the UK's favourite and biggest restaurant chains?

Greggs, JD Wetherspoon, and McDonald's top the list of most popular fast-food chains in the UK.

As for the largest food chains, Co-op Food is the biggest by number of locations in the UK, followed by Greggs and Subway.

Name Number of UK locations 2023
Co-op Food3762
Greggs2406
Subway2167
McDonald's1428
Starbucks1285
JD Wetherspoon811
Pizza Hut510
Nando’s465
Pizza Express340
Ben & Jerry’s169
Five Guys166

What are the most popular cuisines in the UK?

Approximately 92% of Brits interviewed had tried world cuisine during the first quarter of 2023, and 85% were interested in trying different options.

Italian food is still the country’s favourite with 18% of respondents choosing it above other options.

The UK's top 10 cuisines by search

When looking at online search figures, the top two most popular cuisines in the UK are still Indian and Italian, as in 2022.

Asian food is next, including Chinese, Japanese, and Thai restaurants.

Type of restaurant UK Average Monthly searches (Data from Feb 2024)
Indian301000
Italian246000
Chinese 165000
Thai74000
Japanese90500
Greek40500
Vegan40500
Mexican49500
Lebanese27100
Spanish18100

The most searched-for cuisines in the UK, based on data obtained from the tool https://searchvolume.io/

Hungry for more? Find out your city’s favourite cuisine

If we look at the top 10 most populous cities around the UK, Indian restaurants come out on top in most cases, with the exception of London, Edinburgh, and Manchester, where Italian food takes the top spot.

Across most large cities, the third favourite option when it comes to world cuisine is Chinese food.

City1st most popular2nd most popular3rd most popular
LondonItalian 33100Indian 18100Chinese 8100
BirminghamIndian 9900Italian 8100Chinese 4400
GlasgowIndian 14800Italian 8100Chinese 5400
LiverpoolIndian 12100Italian 5400Chinese 4400
BristolIndian 6600Italian 3600 Chinese 2900
ManchesterIndian 8100Italian 14800Chinese 3600
SheffieldIndian 3600Italian 2400Chinese 1300
LeedsIndian 6600Italian 1900Chinese 4400
EdinburghIndian 9900Italian 14600Chinese 5400
LeicesterIndian 6600Italian 3600Chinese 1000

The most searched-for cuisines in major cities in the UK, based on data obtained from the tool https://searchvolume.io/

Vegan and Korean restaurants gaining popularity

In 2023, Brits chose Korean food as the top world cuisine they wanted to try more of. Those surveyed also showed interest in West African, Irish and Filipino food, all of which are well represented in the country’s restaurants.

Vegan restaurants continue to be popular. The most vegan-friendly UK cities are London with 175 restaurants, Manchester with 30, Brighton with 24, Bristol with 22, and Edinburgh with 16.

What about good old fish and chips?

According to the National Federation of Fish Friers, one in five (22%) of people visit a fish and chip restaurant or takeaway at least once a week, and 80% do so once a year.

Despite being an all-time favourite, social discussions about fish and chips were down by more than 34% in 2023. This could be due to the increasing price of the average fish and chips serving, which is now up to £9.

Takeaway and food delivery trends

Food delivery companies continue to grow in popularity following the boom of 2020 and 2021. Last year’s data show the following ranking (based on monthly data obtained from the tool https://searchvolume.io/):

  • Just Eat receives approximately 6,120,000 average online searches every month.
  • Deliveroo also gets a significant search volume, with approximately 1,220,000 searches.
  • Third in the list is Uber Eats with more than 820,000 searches every month.

Takeaway food has always been popular in the UK. However, KPGM research shows a slight change in how takeaways are ordered. In 2023, traditional phone calls were increasingly replaced by apps or other forms of digital ordering among Brits aged 25-34, especially in the North West of England, London and Scotland.

If you own a restaurant, cafe, pub, takeaway, food truck or street food stall, now is the perfect time to update your indoor and outdoor signage and make sure your business gets all the attention with a Custom Neon® sign.

Take a moment to see the customised LED neon signage and wall art we made for restaurants and takeaways in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Leicester, Nottingham, Newcastle, and other parts of the UK, or get a free quote for a Custom Neon® sign.

Business Research, Surveys & Statistics

More research commissioned or undertaken by Custom Neon® can be found here:

  • 10 Statistics Highlighting the Importance of Signage Business
  • Logo Statistics and Facts
  • Effective Signage Placement Strategies for Maximum Visibility
  • How to Use LED Neon to Create Attention Grabbing Signs
  • How to Get the Best ROI on Business Signage
  • Case Studies: Successful Brands Using LED Neon
  • Color Psychology Statistics in Commercial Signage