QSR prices outpace retail despite low F&B inflation

Disparity reflects cost pressures faced by the hospitality trade.

Fast-food inflation climbed from 4.8% to 7.7% in 2025, widening the gap with food and beverage inflation, which reached 4.5%, government data showed.

Fast-food price growth also exceeded broader retail trends, widening the gap between menu prices and what consumers paid in shops, with the gap widening to more than three percentage points by the end of the year, according to Meaningful Vision.

This disparity reflects the cost pressures currently faced by the hospitality trade. For fast-food businesses, labour typically accounts for 25 to 35% of operating costs, leaving them vulnerable to minimum wage increases and higher National Insurance contributions.

Combined with elevated input costs such as those currently affecting beef and coffee, leaves brands with very little room to manoeuvre in response to inflationary pressure, without adjusting menu prices upwards.

Meaningful Vision’s item-level tracking reveals that price growth was not uniform across product categories and segments. In the second half of the year, beverage inflation exceeded food inflation, largely due to coffee price increases. 

Beef prices led growth among proteins by more than 10% compared to last year, but other prices grew as well. Pizza remained comparatively restrained at around 3%, underlining its highly competitive positioning.

The acceleration in fast-food pricing through the second half of the year coincided with a softening of like-for-like traffic. 

As prices rose faster than retail inflation, consumers became increasingly value sensitive, pushing operators to rely more heavily on meal deals, app-based promotions and limited-time offers to defend frequency.

“The widening gap between retail and restaurant inflation is reshaping consumer expectations,” said Maria Vanifatova, CEO and Founder of Meaningful Vision. “Operators are navigating a delicate balance between protecting margins and maintaining value perception.”

With further wage increases scheduled and inflation forecast to moderate only gradually, foodservice prices are likely to remain under upward pressure, Vanifatova added.