Subway Secondary Research

It divides the market into six principle categories by type of food: sandwiches, burgers, pizza, fish and chips, chicken, and other fast food or takeaway. The segment for sandwiches is the largest subsector and accounted for 31.3% of the market in 2011, followed by the burgers sector (23%). In 2011, the share of the fish and chips sector stood at 10.5%, while the share of the pizza stood at 11.6%. Although the smallest sector overall, chicken has undergone the fastest growth since 2007, increasing its market share by 0.4 percentage points to 7.3% of the market. The sector for other fast-food and takeaway outlets, which encompasses all other cuisines — from sushi to kebabs — increased by 8.9% in 2011 to account for 16.3% of the market. There are three different types of enterprises that are active in the market: branded fast-food restaurants, independently owned businesses and traditional takeaway outlets. The major chains in the UK are Greggs, McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Domino’s Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Pizza Hut. In spite of the economic crisis, the overall fast-food and home-delivery industry has remained resilient.

The good value and convenience that this type of restaurant offers makes it popular among consumers in the UK. When eating out, Britons are increasingly opting to eat more fast food. Its inexpensiveness has been a key factor in this trend. Moreover, consumers lead increasingly fast-paced lifestyles, and as a result, they are eating their meals on-the-go, as well as looking for hassle-free solutions, which are prepared easily and quickly — two defining traits of fast food and takeaways. These factors are giving the total industry an advantage over competitors. Moreover, an influx in innovative flavours and healthier products in the market has helped to boost companies’ sales, by bringing new excitement to menus, offering more choice to consumers than ever before and appealing to a broader consumer base. Still, the negative association between fast food and poor quality and unhealthy foods continues to plague the industry. Companies are often criticised and blamed for their contributory role to the obesity epidemic in the UK. As a result, chains are taking a proactive role to combat this image, by taking part in the Government’s Public Health Responsibility Deal, committing themselves to social and environmental causes and placing calorie counts on menu boards, as well as launching media campaigns that attempt to improve the reputation of the industry.

Despite the recession and the ongoing economic instability, the number of branded coffee and sandwich shops increased between 2009 and 2010. Taking into account the top 12 brands of coffee shops and the top 12 brands of sandwich shops, there were 3,041 branded coffee shops in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, while the number of sandwich shops reached 3,748. These are dominated by the coffee chains Starbucks, Costa and Caffè Nero, and the sandwich chains Greggs and Subway. Expansion has been a key feature of the market for branded chains of late, especially outside of London and the South East of the UK, where much of the expansion had previously been based. Exclusive consumer research conducted by NEMS Market Research on behalf of Key Note suggests that only 30.7% of people had cut back on visiting coffee or sandwich shops because of the recession. This is a positive indicator for the industry and is the main reason for the expansion seen within the market in recent years. These statistics also reveal that demand is not significantly falling, at least not by enough to deter more outlets from opening.