Fast food venues experienced a rebound in footfall in June, driven by demand for chicken shops, while pubs saw weaker customer numbers despite the World Cup boost, according to new data.
Fast food recovery
Hospitality industry footfall data from Meaningful Vision showed that fast food operators managed to avoid the downturn affecting large parts of the sector this year, as consumer spending comes under further pressure.
The data revealed that fast food footfall increased by 0.3% in June compared with the same month a year earlier, marking the first increase so far this year. However, foot traffic for fast food was still 0.9% lower for the first six months of 2026 compared with a year earlier.
Chicken shops lead growth
Chicken shops have been the primary driver of this growth, with a 10.5% increase for the half year, while burger restaurants reported a period of decline.
The research also highlighted continued pressure on the pub sector so far this year, amid a backdrop of higher labour costs and weak consumer sentiment.
Pubs struggle despite World Cup
The Meaningful Vision data – which tracks customer visits, pricing, promotions, and store openings at 60,000 outlets – showed that footfall fell by 4.8% at pubs in June. This represented a slowdown in decline amid a boost from the World Cup, with customer visits down 7% year on year over the second quarter.
Maria Vanifatova, chief executive of Meaningful Vision, said: “The start of the World Cup provided a sentiment boost and filled pubs for live screenings, but the uplift was not strong enough to reverse the broader downward trend for the sector.
“More widely, the UK food service industry is still struggling, as consumers reduce how often they eat and drink out, while food and labour costs continue to rise, putting significant pressure on profits.
“But June did bring around a relative improvement across all sub-sectors, pushing fast food back into positive territory.”
