![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/VelvetTacoCheeky.jpg\")
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The fast-casual Velvet Taco has about 50 units in the U.S. It’s first international location opened in London last week. |Photo courtesy of Velvet Taco.<\/p>\n
It could be considered a reverse British invasion.<\/p>\n
U.S.-based restaurant chains are seemingly flooding the United Kingdom this year and next, particularly fast-casual chicken brands.<\/p>\n
Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken is planning 60 units across the U.K.<\/a>, as its first entry into Europe with franchisee The Azzurri Group. Raising Cane\u2019s plans to open its first unit in London next year<\/a>, along with a London Support Office to drive company-owned growth there. Chick-fil-A opened its first location in Leeds in October with plans for a $100 million investment across the U.K. And Domino\u2019s is developing a chicken sub-brand there called Chick \u2018N\u2019 Dip.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, last week Velvet Taco opened its first international location in London, with offerings like the Spicy Tikka Chicken Taco and Fish n\u2019 Chips Taco.\u00a0<\/p>\n The quick-service concept Captain D\u2019s opened its first-ever flagship unit in Broadstairs, England, earlier this month, the first of 20 planned across the U.K.<\/p>\n Carl\u2019s Jr. master franchisee Boparan Restaurant Group opened its first U.K. location of that burger brand in April, with plans to also bring it to Ireland.<\/p>\n The family entertainment brand Chuck E. Cheese in September announced a multi-unit deal to debut in the U.K., which will be the chain\u2019s first move into Europe.<\/p>\n And, in an interview with Restaurant Business this week, P.F. Chang\u2019s CEO Jim Mazany<\/a> said he was in the U.K. recently and was impressed by the sophistication of diners there.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn London, as a market, a brand like P.F. Chang\u2019s could have a dozen [locations], and in the U.K., you could have 30 or 40,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a market that, for the brand, I think it could do real well. And a lot of brands have been very successful there.\u201d<\/p>\n What explains the mad rush across the Atlantic?<\/p>\n Foodservice consultant James Hacon, founder and managing partner of Think Hospitality said there are the more obvious reasons, like the shared language and the fact that the U.K. is a natural launch point for Europe more broadly.<\/p>\n The U.K. also has a franchising system framework, while other European population centers, like Germany, for example, do not.<\/p>\n Hacon, however, also notes that the restaurant industry in the U.K. is fairly turbulent. The restaurant industry there is facing challenges similar to the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n The interior of Velvet Taco’s first location in the U.K. | Photo courtesy of Velvet Taco.<\/p>\n Consumers in the U.K. are struggling with rising inflation and economic concerns. They\u2019re eating more at home and cutting back on spending, and that\u2019s why fast-casual and quick-service concepts are on the rise there, as more diners trade down from casual dining, Hacon said.<\/p>\n Casual dining, once a strength across the U.K., crashed in 2018 and never really recovered, only to be hit after that by COVID-19, he said.<\/p>\n The result has been a roughly 20% decline in restaurant units over the past 16 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n The upside, however, is that prime real estate has become more widely available.<\/p>\n \u201cReal estate now is much easier than it has ever been in terms of seeing opportunities coming up for prime real estate that you wouldn\u2019t have expected,\u201d said Hacon. Think Hospitality often works with malls that are shifting retail into restaurant spaces, for example, which also creates opportunities for growing brands, Hacon said.<\/p>\n Restaurant operators in the U.S. are also likely seeing the success of brands like Five Guys, this year\u2019s Global Restaurant Leader of the Year by Restaurant Business<\/a>, a chain with more than $1 billion in sales internationally today.<\/p>\n Five Guys opened its first location outside North America in London\u2019s Covent Garden in 2013 in a joint venture with telecom billionaire Sir Charles Dunstone, who reportedly fell in love with the brand while visiting the U.S. on holiday.<\/p>\n Five Guys Europe now includes about 300 units, including France, Germany and Spain, with 177 in the U.K.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dunstone is reportedly seeking investors to acquire up to 50% stake in Five Guys Europe<\/a>, which is estimated to be valued at about $767 million, according to Sky News.<\/p>\n That move could be motivated in part by the fact that investors are hungry for American brands expanding in the U.K., Hacon speculated, particularly after seeing Wingstop become one of the fastest-growing restaurant brands there more recently.<\/p>\n In December, the U.S.-based private equity firm Sixth Street acquired Lemon Pepper Holdings<\/a>, Wingstop\u2019s master franchisee for the U.K. and Ireland in a transaction valued at more than $503 million at the time.<\/p>\n After first opening in the U.K. in 2018, the Dallas-based fast-casual brand ended 2024 with 57 locations in the region and a target of reaching 200 in five years.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as that Wingstop valuation went out, we got inundated by U.S. brands, some I\u2019d never heard of, coming to the U.K.,\u201d Hacon said.<\/p>\n Popeyes is another brand often cited for its success in the U.K. The quick-service chain on Tuesday opened its 100th unit there, at London Bridge station. Private-equity firm TDR Capital acquired a majority stake in Popeyes UK, which also operates the chicken brand in France, in January 2024 after first investing in the business in 2023.<\/p>\n Seeing that success did motivate Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken to jump the pond, said Jim Bitticks, Dave\u2019s president<\/p>\n Dave\u2019s was approached by the U.K.-based franchise operator, The Azzurri Group, seeing a huge opportunity for the hot chicken brand. The group opened its first location in December, and this week will reach six units, with a seventh coming next month.<\/p>\n Another five are planned for 2026 before the group looks at taking the brand into the rest of Western Europe, Bitticks said.<\/p>\n Peter Backman, who writes about the U.K.\u2019s foodservice industry<\/a>, said chicken has become increasingly popular because it\u2019s fairly cheaply available, which has created a flywheel effect.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a phenomenon that hasn\u2019t been missed by master franchisee Domino\u2019s Pizza Group, which is preparing to launch the new Chick \u2018N\u2019 Dip concept in the U.K.<\/p>\n The group operates roughly 1,400 pizza outlets in the U.K., but Chick \u2018N\u2019 Dip is a sub brand featuring wings and baked chicken tenders \u201ccoated in a bespoke crumb,\u201d according to a press release, and paired with the option of about 12 dips, like Mexican Mayo, Katsu Curry or (\u201cfor a taste of the States\u201d) Buffalo Hot Sauce. A similar concept by KFC debuted in the U.S. last year.<\/a><\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say a move to London for any U.S. brand is a sure thing, notes Backman.<\/p>\n Brands like Chipotle, Wendy\u2019s and TGI Fridays have struggled to get traction in the U.K. As executives shared at the Global Restaurant Leadership Conference in Barcelona<\/a> last week, it can take time for a brand to get established.<\/p>\n Chick-fil-A attempted a popup in London in 2019 that sparked protests related to an owner’s stance on same-sex marriage<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n But, in August, Chick-fil-A announced plans to open the chain\u2019s first permanent restaurants in Great Britain, starting in Leeds, in partnership with local owner-operator Mike Hoy, who was raised in London, the chain noted. The first unit opened in October.<\/p>\n Chick-fil-A plans to invest more than $100 million in the U.K. over the next decade (along with a $75 million investment in Singapore).<\/p>\n Indeed, Backman noted that consumers across the U.K. have expressed some anti-U.S. sentiment\u2014or at least they are \u201cless pro-U.S. than usual.”<\/p>\n But given the appetite for American restaurant brands of late, he said, \u201cI doubt if it\u2019s sufficient to [have an] impact.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Velvet](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/VelvetTacoInterior.jpg\")
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