British restaurants see delivery sales rise but takeaways fall

Britain’s leading restaurant groups saw deliveries to homes sales rise by 3.6% year-on-year in November, according to the latest CGA by NIQ Hospitality at Home Tracker. 

The figure is slightly above the UK’s rate of inflation in November, which was set at 3.2% by the Consumer Prices Index from the Office for National Statistics.

However, it is well below the tracker’s figure of 7.6% in October, and is the lowest growth since June.

Hospitality’s at-home sales were further weakened in November by slow takeaways and click-and-collect orders from sites. Sales by value in these channels fell by 8.8% year-on-year – the worst figure of 2025 so far.

The net result of rising deliveries and falling takeaways was that restaurants’ at-home sales were level (0.0%) in November. It continues a pattern of flat or modest like-for-like sales growth in 2025 as consumers tightened their spending.

The tracker shows more positive sales trends on a total basis. Adding in newly-opened restaurants, or sites where deliveries and takeaways have been introduced for the first time, last month’s sales were 6.1% ahead of November 2024.

CGA by NIQ’s Hospitality at Home Tracker shows deliveries earned 13.4p in every pound spent with restaurants in November, while takeaways and click-and-collect orders attracted 4.8p in every pound.

Karl Chessell, director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA at NIQ, said: “November’s real-terms growth in delivery sales is welcome news for restaurants. However, it’s clear that much of the extra revenue has come over from directly-ordered takeaways, and it’s been powered by higher prices rather than extra volumes. Growth is also unlikely to be covering the additional costs that have been imposed on hospitality over the last 12 months, with yet more tax burdens from the Budget to come.

“Deliveries will be a valuable channel for restaurant groups in 2026 but maintaining profitability and ensuring at-home sales don’t cannibalise eat-out visits will be two big challenges.”

Survey participants comprise Azzurri Group, Big Table Group, Bills, Bleecker Street Burger, Byron, Coco di Mama, Cote, Creams Café, Dishoom, Five Guys, Gaucho Grill, Honest Burgers, Hop Vietnamese, Megan’s, Mission Mars, Mitchells & Butlers, Nando’s, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut UK, Popeyes, Prezzo, Rosa’s Thai, Tasty Plc, TGI Fridays UK, Tortilla, Tossed, Wagamama, Wasabi, Wingstop, Yo! Sushi and Yolk.

After seeing record trading levels during the pandemic, the delivery sector has been navigating choppier waters of late. Just Eat was acquired by investment group Prosus earlier this year in a €4.1b (£3.4b) deal, following delisting from the London Stock Exchange “in order to reduce the administrative burden, complexity and costs” borne by the business.

In November 2024, it agreed to sell Grubhub for an enterprise value of $650m (£510m), less than a tenth of the price it paid to acquire the brand in 2021.

In May, US food delivery app DoorDash acquired Deliveroo for £2.9b.