Restaurant delivery sales lift UK at-home trade 9.6% in August
New sites and first-time delivery listings drove the headline figure; on a like-for-like basis the at-home business of Britain's restaurant groups grew just 0.2%.
Restaurant delivery sales pushed the at-home trade of Britain's managed restaurant groups 9.6% above August 2025, according to the NIQ Hospitality at Home Tracker published on 25 September. On a like-for-like basis, growth was 0.2%, the weakest reading since February.
The tracker pools data from 36 restaurant groups, among them Nando's, Pizza Express, Wagamama, Five Guys and Dishoom. The total figure includes restaurants opened in the last 12 months and sites that added delivery or takeaway for the first time, which is where most of the 9.6% came from.
Delivery grows, collection keeps shrinking
Growth bought with new outlets and delivery listings is growth the operator pays for up front.
Like-for-like delivery sales rose 3.4% year on year. Takeaway and click-and-collect fell 7.1%, their 17th consecutive monthly decline. Delivery now accounts for more than two-thirds of restaurants' at-home revenue, and at-home sales as a whole made up 19.3% of total restaurant spending in August.
NIQ's explanation for the flat line is the weather: summer heat waves sent customers out to eat rather than ordering in. The in-venue numbers point the same way. NIQ's separate hospitality tracker with RSM, published on 17 September, put restaurant groups' like-for-like sales up 2.4% in August.
Karl Chessell, NIQ's director of hospitality operators and food for EMEA, said total growth "shows consumer demand remains robust" and that managed groups keep investing in delivery infrastructure and new sites. Flat like-for-like sales, he added, are "a cause for concern at a time when operational costs continue to rise."
Restaurant delivery sales and rising costs
The cost side is not standing still. Foodservice price inflation in the UK rose again in August as meat climbed, and every order that moves from the collection counter to a courier also carries platform commission. Growth bought with new outlets and new delivery listings is growth the operator pays for up front.
The number to watch is the like-for-like line in September's tracker, due in late October. If delivery keeps growing while collection shrinks, the at-home business gets bigger and thinner at the same time.
