EXCLUSIVE: The challenges and opportunities QSRs are facing in London

London now represents 16% of Great Britain’s QSR visits, down from 18% a year ago.

The QSR sector in London has to work harder to satisfy their customers, as they are much less satisfied than in the rest of GB. Only 27% of visits to a QSR outlet are rated as excellent for the Overall Experience in London, compared to 31% rate outside London. The gap is even stronger for Value for Money, at 24% vs 30% in the rest of GB. This difference in satisfaction is observed for every single item of satisfaction.

This might not come as a surprise as consumers in the capital show a much younger profile with 18-34 year old standing for 38% of all traffic compared to only 28% in the rest of Great Britain. Millennial consumers are particularly demanding and have high expectations that operators particularly have to meet.

Probably in link with their younger age, QSR outlets that are favoured in London are sandwich and coffee shops.

Cyril Lavenant, Head of Foodservice UK in the NPD group said, “London is rightly seen as an innovation hub for the whole of Britain and to some extend for the rest of Europe. Its younger, wealthier population definitely makes it a very interesting, dynamic market for food service operators. That means that the potential is big but also that expectations are higher in the capital, operators need to be excellent to survive there!”