Demand
Understand what’s driving, or dampening, customer demand across restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés, and contract catering. Our focused reporting features dining trends, footfall patterns, booking behaviour, menu shifts, delivery and takeaway volumes, and the wider economic factors impacting consumer spend in hospitality. Whether you’re adapting to shifting weekday trade, reacting to seasonal fluctuations, or planning promotional strategies, this archive offers data-driven insights to help operators, chefs, and F&B leaders align operations with real-time market dynamics.
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May- 2025 -27 MayFood and Drink
KFC unveils plans to invest £1.49bn in the UK and Ireland
KFC UK and Ireland has announced plans to invest £1.49bn and create over 7,000 new jobs in the UK and Ireland over the next five years. Of the £1.49bn investment, £466m will go towards opening new restaurants focusing on building flagship sites and drive-thrus in key locations such as Ireland…
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20 MayCafes and Coffee Shops
Greggs sales surge 7.4% to £784m
Greggs has reported a 7.4% increase in total sales to £784m (2024: £730m) for the 20 weeks of 2025, driven by store expansion and product innovation. Its like-for-like (LFL) sales in company-managed shops also grew by 2.9%, with improved performance in the last 11 weeks supported by better trading conditions.…
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16 MayRestaurants
Slim Chickens opens new site in Merry Hill
Slim Chickens has announced the opening of its newest restaurant at Merry Hill shopping centre. The Southern-inspired operator has opened in a location near one of the food court entrances to the centre. Spanning 5,229 sq ft, the two-floor restaurant features Slim Chickens’ signature red and black décor, seating for…
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14 MayRestaurants
Toca Social to open in Westfield White City
Toca Social, the interactive football and dining experience, has partnered with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) to open its third permanent venue in the UK at Westfield London, White City. The new site is to open 1 July 2025, and Westfield London will be home to the largest Toca Social venue to date,…
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13 MayFeatures
What the DoorDash Deliveroo takeover means for the food delivery sector
The food delivery sector in the UK is undergoing a seismic shift. DoorDash, the American delivery giant, has recently announced its acquisition of Deliveroo, one of the UK’s leading food delivery platforms. The move is set to reshape the competitive landscape of food and grocery delivery across the country and…
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13 MayCafes and Coffee Shops
Jamie Oliver Cafe and Cookery School opens at Oxford Street site
The flagship Jamie Oliver Cookery School and Jamie Oliver Cafe have officially opened their doors to customers for the first time at John Lewis Oxford Street. Spanning over 4,600 sq ft on the third floor of the store, the space includes two Cookery School classrooms and a 50-seat Jamie Oliver…
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13 MayPubs and Bars
Marston’s sales rise 2.9% in H1
Marston’s has seen its like-for-like (LFL) sales up 2.9% in the 31 weeks to 3 May, with strong growth of 10.5% in the five weeks since the period ended. In H1 2025, LFL sales grew by 1.3% reflecting timing of Easter and Mothers Day which fell in H1 in 2024…
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12 MayPubs and Bars
Marston’s rolls out solar across 120 pubs
Pub company Marston’s has partnered with Two Blues Solar, a renewable energy solutions provider, and installer Nuvolt to deploy solar across 120 of its community-based pubs over the next 12 months. The £5.4m initiative, fully financed by Atrato Onsite Energy, operates through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) – a long-term…
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9 MayRestaurants
KFC enters new partnership with Deliveroo
KFC and Deliveroo have announced a new partnership that will make the fried chicken brand available to customers via the food delivery platform. The partnership, now live, will initially be available from select restaurants covering London and the South East, before rolling out to 924 KFC restaurants by the end…
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8 MayRestaurants
Spending squeeze keeps delivery and takeaway sales flat in March
UK restaurant groups achieved fractional year-on-year growth of 0.7% in their delivery and takeaway sales in March according to data from CGA. It ends a slow first quarter of 2025 for the sector, after a like-for-like increase of only 1.7% in February and a 0.6% drop in January. However, the…
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