In Focus

A short time after Pokémon Go's release, the mobile game has already become one of the top apps globally, and with its popularity, took in US$200 million in revenue in the first month of its release. Euromonitor International explores how bricks and mortar shops can take advantage of its user base through licensing.

According to a report by Local Data Company (LDC), Britain’s shop vacancy marginally increased to 12.4% in July from 12.3% in June. Annually this is down -0.6% from the same period last year (July 2015).

When we buy something to eat or drink away from home – a restaurant meal, a quick snack, or even a grab-and-go supermarket sandwich – our choices show how much British life is changing. Our traditional love of a hot cup of tea is distinctly lukewarm. We prefer burgers to fish-and-chips. At pubs we are now more likely to order a soft drink than alcohol. And our much-loved independent ‘ethnic’ restaurants are in decline while high street ‘casual dining’ brands are booming. Here are 10 insights into the out-of-home (OOH) British foodservice market using figures released today by global information company The NPD Group.

It will balloon to £16.1b in 2016, says IGD.

QSR Media sat down with Muriel's Kitchen, which recently launched its first grab-and-go outlet in Putney, MK by Muriel's Kitchen.

Founded in 2008, Seattle-grown MOD Pizza allows customers to customize their pizzas according to their taste. Their unique business model eventually paved the way for 135 sites across the US. In June 2016, the chain opened their doors to their first UK site in Leeds. Recently, the chain revealed plans for new locations, raising MOD Pizza's number of planned UK sites to five.

QSR Media spoke with Taco Bell about the brand's tenth UK outlet at Cleethorpes and their future plans in the U.K.

Casual dining brands in the UK with under 25 sites have grown by 39% over the past three years, opening a combined 489 new outlets across the UK, according to the recent ‘Casual Dining in the UK’ report by Savills. David Bell, head of leisure at Savills, said: “The significant growth by the smaller brands emphasises the development we’ve seen in new concepts. These smaller chains have provided consumers with more choice and offered a point of difference in the market, and with this success it is driving them to open more sites around the country. Furthermore with the investment from private equity we could see more brands with the capital to grow.” The research revealed that smaller brands such as Wahaca, Franco Manca and Cau have grown faster than established large brands, adding 489 outlets (+39%) since the end of 2012, compared to brands such as Pizza Express, Prezzo and Nando’s, which have opened 297 (+13%). Savills highlighted that 80% of the casual dining market is made up of brands with fewer than 25 restaurants. In the report Savills research also showed the growth in different cuisines, with North American, Caribbean and Thai cuisines restaurants having the greatest growth over the past four years. The report noted that 66% of all North American restaurants opened after 2012, compared to 11% of all pizza restaurants, showing a cultural shift in the UK dining market. Tom Whittington, research director at Savills, said: “Post recession we saw a real boom in the leisure market and that meant the demand for new cuisines from the consumer saw a number of new chains emerging such as Turtle Bay, which is Caribbean, and north American causal dining restaurant Red’s.”

In the 12 months to March 2016, there have been 5.8 Billion visits to QSRs in Great Britain. Visits have grown by 7% over the past 6 years, while the rest of the market was losing -7% of traffic.

At the Breakfast Briefing hosted by Prestige Purchasing, the company predicted that food and drink prices are going to rise in the event of a Leave victory in tomorrow's Referendum.

Boparan Restaurants Holdings (“BRH”) acquired the restaurant group Giraffe from current owners Tesco, who acquired the group in 2013.

The brand has launched its Little Veggie Pop Up in Broadwick Street, Soho and its doors will be open until the end of June.

Global packaging company Huhtamaki released the latest study from its ‘Consumer Insights’ series, researching food to go consumption within the UK. The company also released a new ‘Food To Go’ Market Factsheets.

Data from the NPD Group has revealed that London accounts for 17% of all visits and 20% of all spend to Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) in Great Britain. These figures of 17% and 20% are much higher than the 13% of the UK population living in London.

The bakery chain announced that muffin sales rose for more than 25% thanks to the launch of its innovative Muffin Lab range. The increase was achieved in the first four months of 2016 and is equivalent to a 28% increase year on year.

New research from UK coffee provider rijo42 has analysed the habits of 1,000 British workers, finding that over 95% of professionals have access to a cup of coffee in the workplace.