UK eating out meat volumes remain below pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, higher livestock costs and tighter beef supply continue to put pressure on menu pricing.
UK eating out meat volumes remain below pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, higher livestock costs and tighter beef supply continue to put pressure on menu pricing. While interest in reducing meat consumption is growing, plant-based alternatives have yet to achieve mainstream appeal in foodservice, with only 12% of UK diners typically ordering them when eating out or ordering takeaway or delivery.
Meat remains central to foodservice occasions, but consumers are becoming more selective about when and how they spend. Only 19% of meat-eating diners would continue ordering a favourite meat dish following a 30% price increase, with most looking for ways to manage costs while continuing to eat meat. This makes value, quality and clear price justification increasingly important.
As a result, innovation in poultry and red meat is focusing less on introducing entirely new proteins and more on making familiar meats feel worth paying for. Operators are premiumising alternative cuts, building flavour platforms and creating more distinctive dining experiences. With 48% of meat-eating diners agreeing that dishes cooked with meat-based fats taste better than those cooked in vegetable oil, flavour remains a powerful route to differentiation and value creation.
This report examines out-of-home consumption of red meat (beef, lamb, pork, veal) and poultry (chicken, turkey, duck) across the UK foodservice sector, including QSR, pubs, casual dining, restaurants, delivery, takeaway, and contract catering.
Focusing on menu-based decisions in real ordering contexts, it delivers commercially actionable insight into how consumers choose protein dishes. This includes substitution behaviour and trade-up/trade-down dynamics between meat options in response to factors such as price, value, quality, and menu positioning.
For benchmarking and competitive context, fish, seafood, and plant-based meat alternatives are included as key comparison categories to understand substitution risk, positioning, and relative appeal across proteins.
The research is designed to help foodservice operators and suppliers understand what drives choice at the point of purchase, and where opportunities exist to protect margin, optimise menus, and strengthen protein positioning.
Note: This study excludes retail consumption and focuses exclusively on out-of-home foodservice behaviour.
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