Britain’s top restaurant groups have started 2026 with strong growth in delivery sales, which signals a positive shift in consumer preferences, while takeaway sales continue to decline sharply, as shown by the latest NIQ Hospitality at Home Tracker.
The Tracker, powered by CGA intelligence, reveals that like-for-like delivery sales in January were 7.4% ahead of the same month in 2025. This increase, partly driven by widespread rainfall that encouraged indoor dining, shows how weather and new delivery options can positively influence sales.
The introduction of new delivery options has played a key role in boosting at-home sales. Total delivery sales in January, including from recently opened restaurants or those that introduced delivery services, increased by 13.9% compared to the same period in 2025, underscoring the importance of innovation in delivery strategies.
However, revenue from takeaways and click-and-collect orders dropped 9.1% on a like-for-like basis in January, reflecting a shift in consumer spending towards the convenience of deliveries, which has caused takeaway sales to fall for 10 consecutive months.
With deliveries and takeaways combined, the NIQ Hospitality at Home Tracker indicates that restaurant groups’ like-for-like at-home sales in January were 2.7% ahead of January 2025. This is fractionally below the UK’s 3.0% inflation rate, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index. Total sales were 11.8% ahead.
The growth of at-home sales means deliveries accounted for 13.8 pence per pound spent at restaurants in January. Takeaways and click-and-collect orders generated 5.0 pence.
Karl Chessell, director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA at NIQ, said: “The bright start to 2026 for delivery sales is a contrast to eat-in trends and a welcome source of growth for restaurant operators.
“With nearly one pound in every seven spent with restaurants now going on deliveries, this is clearly now a valuable and mature channel.
“However, it’s not a risk-free increment to sales, and restaurants need to stay alert to protecting both the profitability and quality of their delivery offers. With consumers still cautious with their spending, operators will have to keep working hard to sustain at-home demand in 2026.”
