Technomic's Leading 100 U.K. Chain Restaurant Report Details Signs of Improvement in Chain Restaurant Growth

Technomic's Leading 100 U.K. Chain Restaurant Report Details Signs of Improvement in Chain Restaurant Growth PR Newswire READING, England, Aug. 8, 2012 READING, England, Aug. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The 100 Leading U.K. restaurant chains registered a 5.6 percent annual turnover increase in 2011, a sharp improvement over 2.6 percent the prior year. According to data released today by Technomic Inc. in its annual reporting on the top U.K. restaurant chains the foodservice consultancy found that U.K. units grew 4.9 percent to 17,593 in 2011, compared to unit growth of 3.9 percent the previous year. "It is certainly encouraging to see overall industry growth rates more than double in one year," said Darren Tristano, Managing Director of Technomic. "On a chain-by-chain basis, however, performance varied substantially, reflecting the fact that many organisations are still redefining their value propositions for today's economy and tackling various industry challenges." Among limited-service restaurants, the largest menu categories in turnover came from burger (£2.3 billion), coffee shops (£1.5 billion) and chicken (£1.1 billion). The ranking was led, as usual, by U.S.-based McDonald's, which generated just below £1.9 billion in turnover in 2011, followed by Wetherspoon (£1 billion) and Greggs (£707.6 million). As a whole, limited-service restaurants saw a turnover bump of 4.4 percent.