The new US takeaway titans invading UK: Interactive map reveals if there’s a Popeyes, Wendy’s, Shake Shack or Wing Stop near YOU
- The British fast food market is set to bring in approximately £22billion this year
- Experts say these firms see a gap in this market that they can take advantage of
Just over 10 years ago American fast food in Britain was limited to a handful of familiar names that had ruled the roost for decades.
The likes of McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC have long had a stranglehold on the f with nearly 3,000 restaurants combined across the length and breadth of the UK.
But in recent years a new wave of US fast food chains have decided to make the leap across the Atlantic and expand their operations into Europe, encouraged by the ‘Americanisation’ of Britain.
The likes of Five Guys and Taco Bell have been joined by Popeyes in the new gold rush to get a piece of the British market which is set bring in approximately £22billion this year, according to market research firm Statista.
These companies are looking to take advantage of the cultural and linguistic similarities between the UK and the US, as well as the long reach of social media, after learning from decades of failed attempts, experts say.
Popeyes has become the latest success story, with its first UK branch becoming its busiest in the entire world
‘The quality is better than 20 or 30 years ago, its made well but good value – they’re actually really good quality,’ says Simon Stenning, a strategic advisor for the food industry.
‘What we’ve got going at the moment is a market of similar to the US and consumers becoming more Americanised.
‘Social media has made people much more aware and knowledgeable about these brands. The success of Popeyes has been because people are aware of it.’
Peter Backman, a consultant in the food industry, remarked the ‘aggressive’ competition between new arrivals in Blighty.
‘The UK has become reasonably attractive because they’ve seen a gap in the market,’ he said.
‘They’re under pressure from their shareholders to grow and the US market is quite saturated.’
Of those that have made the jump this side of the millennium, burger chain Five Guys has become the biggest success story, proving there was room in Britain for more than just McDonald’s and Burger King when it came to patties.
After opening its first restaurant in Covent Garden in 2013 and since then the Virginia-based firm has opened 159 locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
John Eckbert, CEO of the firm’s UK operation, told BigHospitality in 2019 there had been worries about where anyone would ‘care about a new American brand’.
There would be no need for these concerns though, despite the company refusing to spend money on advertising for its stores and struggles finding staff.
‘What Pret did for fresh sandwiches Five Guys has done for burgers,’ he told the publication.
‘The idea you can have a burger made exactly the way you want it is very American, but it’s becoming more important in the UK, particularly to millennials.’
Shake Shack is another US chain that has made moves to jump into the British fast food market
Taco Bell, which originally entered the UK market in the 1980s, has only started to really expand in the last decade or so
Joining Five Guys in trying to upset the established order when it comes to burgers in the UK is Shake Shack.
A relative newcomer to the fast food scene – it started out as a hot dog cart in New York’s Madison Square Park in 2001, the firm has had a meteoric rise.
Less than 20 years after setting up its first permanent kiosk, it took in more than £730million in revenue last year.
The firm actually opened its first store in London in 2013, but has been much more cautious in its expansion than Five Guys, and currently has 12 locations in the capital, Gatwick Airport and in Cardiff.
But there are some brands who just cannot seem to get it right, with Chick-fil-A, the ‘poster child’ for fast food in the US falling flat on its face in the UK.
When deciding to expand into the UK, it is important to make sure the right people are leading the charge.
Mr Stenning said: ‘In the states it [Chick-fil-A] is particularly successful with parents and children after school.
‘Here more of the emphasis would be on places like shopping malls which are more focused on the weekend.
‘It’s [Christian] culture which means it didn’t open on Sundays means you are losing potentially a fifth of your customers.’
Mr Backman said: ‘It all depends on who is doing the work – doing it yourselves is a recipe for failure, so you have to franchise it.’
By comparison to some of its younger compatriots Taco Bell is an old hand, having first launched its cross-Atlantic invasion in 1986.
However, this initial wave proved difficult to sustain and by the mid 90s its only presence in Britain was two special venues based at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, both of which hosted United States Air Force personnel.
In the late 2000s its owner Yum! brands announced it would attempt to penetrate the British market once again, beginning with a new store at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex.
Since then it has gone from strength to strength, and it now has 129 locations across the UK, prompting Taco Bell International’s president Julie Felss Masino to remark ‘we’re on fire’.
Speaking to CityAM last year, she said: ‘The number one thing we hear on social media is “when is there going to be a Taco Bell in my local community?”
‘When I was here in December, I had the opportunity to go to an opening in Guildford at 9am or 10am, there was a line wrapped around the block.
‘At 9am people were lining up for tacos. Some of those kids were meant to be at school, I won’t tell their parents.’
The latest in the line is Popeyes, which has seen incredible success bringing its ‘Louisiana Chicken’ over the UK.
It opened its first store in Stratford in November 2021, which quickly became the company’s busiest branch worldwide, and since then it has opened 16 further sites in London, Brighton, Leicester, Oxford, Derby, Nottingham, Liverpool and Newcastle.
It plans to open a further six in the coming months in Cardiff, Cambridge, Glasgow, Reading, Plymouth and Rotherham.
Also moving into KFC’s territory in the fried chicken industry is aviation-themed chain Wingstop, which opened its first branch in London’s Cambridge Circus in October 2018.
The chain now has 28 locations across the country, but has mooted plans to expand this further to 100 restaurants.
Wingstop has joined KFC and Popeyes in trying to corner the fried chicken market in Britain
Wendy’s, which has tried and failed to gain a foothold in Britain in the past, has made another attempt in recent years
The success of the new kids on the block has tempted some companies that have tried and failed to thrive in Britain in the past to give it another go.
Among these is Wendy’s, the third biggest burger restaurant in the world after McDonald’s and Burger King, which had exited the British market in 2000.
In 2021 it officially made its comeback on these shores by opening its first branch in Reading and now has at least 13 locations in London, Cambridge, Oxford and Maidstone.
It opened its first drive-thru site at Brampton services on the A1 earlier this month, and has previously said it plans to open 400 stores in total across the UK.
Five Guys has opened more than 100 restaurants in the UK since landing on these shores in 2013
Even Little Caesars, the third largest pizza chain in the world which has essentially no presence on this side of the pond, is making another attempt nearly 40 years after it first tried to get a foothold in the UK.
The firm had attempted to set up franchises in the UK in 1985 but what was seen as a lack of adaptability to British tastes led to the project stuttering and failing, with the last location closing in 2000.
However, it opened its first new restaurant in Britain last year in Chellaston, a suburb of Derby, as it tries to challenge the dominance of Domino’s, Papa Johns and Pizza Hut.
The firm’s chief development officer, Jeremy Vitaro, told the Telegraph: ‘We see the UK within Europe as a powerhouse, a place to be and a place where certainly as an American brand there’s good brand recognition.’