The countries’ largest restaurant groups, based on turnover, saw combined profits fall to £204 million in the latest year, down from £365 million the previous year.
The fall came despite turnover across the Top 100 restaurant groups increasing from £12.9 billion to £13.3 billion.
Martin Jones, partner at UHY Hacker Young, said the fall reflects the cumulative impact of increases to the National Minimum Wage and employers’ National Insurance contributions as well as higher business rates and continued inflation in food and energy costs.
“A lot of individual restaurant companies are showing that they can attract customers, but turning those sales into profit has become far more difficult,” says Jones.
“Rising taxes on employment and higher operating costs have absorbed all the benefit of the increased turnover and then some.”
Jones also pointed to continued volatility in food prices, with olive oil, beef, chocolate, coffee, eggs and pasta among products that have seen significant price increases.
He adds: “Many operators are now finding that simply getting more people through the door is no longer enough. They have to work much harder to protect already thin margins.”
According to Jones, restaurants are responding by changing their menus and investing in measures designed to reduce costs or increase spending per customer.
He says more operators are adding chicken dishes, partly in response to the popularity of high-protein diets and partly as an alternative to beef, which has experienced significant price rises.
Restaurants are using QR-code menus to reduce printing costs and make it easier to update menus. Automation is also being introduced for basic food preparation, mixing and payment processes to reduce staffing requirements.
Operators are also offering customers more opportunities to customise dishes for an additional fee. Jones also says there is a continued transition to smaller dishes that can provide higher profit margins.
Mocktails are also continuing to grow, offering restaurants a higher-margin alternative as demand for alcohol-free drinks increases.
Value-for-money options are becoming increasingly important, particularly in fast-food and fast-casual restaurants. Research by Boston Consulting Group found that value for money was the top customer requirement in those sectors.
Some restaurant groups are also turning to AI-powered procurement to identify cheaper ingredients and improve purchasing decisions.
The list of the largest businesses includes the likes of The Restaurant Group, Pizza Express, Five Guys, Loungers and Lemon Pepper Holdings, the operator of Wingstop UK.