The fast-food/takeaway and home-delivery market in the UK reached a value of £8.69bn in 2005, having grown by 3.7% over the previous year.
If coffee shops are included, the value of the market reaches £10.78bn, with sales growth of 4% recorded in 2005.This report analyses the following sectors of the market: sandwiches, burgers, fish and chips, pizza, chicken, other fast food/takeaway and coffee shops.
Coffee shops have not traditionally been a main sector of study in this report, as they are covered in a Key Note Market Assessment (Coffee & Sandwich Shops, published in November 2005).
However, given the growth of this sector, they are now covered in more detail in this year's report.As consumer lives become more hectic and time poor, they are searching for services that save them time and offer high levels of convenience.
Fast food is an ideal solution for providing quick meals.
In response to this development, the supply of fast-food outlets is expanding, both in terms of the number of outlets and spatial location.
At the same time, the standalone fast-food outlet is facing increased competition from multiple retailers who are seeking to move into this market with their own in-house cafés and fast-food restaurants.The above forces are generally driving forward demand.
However, the sector is also facing a new, and potentially far less supportive, phenomenon: health consciousness.
A growing number of consumers are becoming concerned about the impact of eating fast food on their own health and on the health of their children.
Key Note's research shows that more than half of those visiting a fast-food restaurant in the past 6 months have altered their eating patterns by opting for healthier meals (e.g.
sandwiches and salads), reducing their frequency of visiting outlets or opting for smaller portion sizes.Coffee shops have also been a major new growth area of the market, mainly as a result of their ability to pull in new types of consumers to the market; for example, more affluent and older consumers rather than the traditional young and less affluent users of fast-food outlets.Despite the health concerns, fast food remains very popular, with more than 60% of adults visiting a major fast-food outlet in the past 6 months.
However, the health factor will impact on the future demand for fast foods, with sectors such as sandwiches, chicken and pizza likely to be the fastest-growing areas of the market, while sectors such as burgers and fish and chips will experience a slowdown in growth.Future growth in the industry will be relatively stable, with annual average growth of less than 5% per annum in current prices predicted for the next 5 years.
Even this level of growth could be threatened if advertising bans are introduced to limit the advertising of `junk food' to children at certain times or, in the worst case scenario, at all times.
On a more positive note, the growing use of the Internet and mobile telephones to order delivered or takeaway food will aid the industry, helping to reduce costs and possibly allowing outlet rationalisation in areas oversupplied with fast-food shops.