Deliveries up but takeaway as consumers look for more convenience

Delivery option expansion has driven growth despite flat like-for-like sales.

More consumers are choosing deliveries over takeaway, with like-for-like delivery sales up 5.6% in August, whilst takeaway and click-and-collect dip 8.4%, according to CGA by NIQ’s latest Hospitality at Home Tracker.

The report notes that this extends a long-term shift from picking up food from restaurants to the convenience of delivery to the door from third-party providers.

In total, top restaurant groups achieved like-for-like delivery and takeaway sales growth of 1.4% in August 2025.

It extends a long run of modest year-on-year comparisons for the at-home channel, with growth remaining below the rate of inflation throughout 2025. However, August’s performance was slightly ahead of trends in eat-in sales, with the CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker—based on a separate cohort of operators—showing restaurants’ like-for-like sales dropped 1.6%.

The report said this suggests that with spending under pressure, some consumers were switching from eating out to ordering in over the Summer.

Meanwhile, like-for-like sales have been broadly flat, and rollouts of more delivery options have helped to generate strong growth on a total basis. Adding in restaurants that have been opened by groups in the last 12 months, or where deliveries and takeaways were introduced for the first time, total sales rose by 11.4%, a sign of the capacity for further growth in deliveries and takeaways.

“Restaurants have found it hard to sustain real-terms growth in delivery and takeaway sales this year, and August’s numbers show many consumers remain hesitant about spending. Any modest increases have largely been driven by higher menu prices or new openings, while rising costs are sapping operators’ profit margins,” Karl Chessell, director - hospitality operators and food, EMEA at CGA by NIQ, said.

Chessell also said operators will be anxiously hoping that spending loosens in the final third of the year, but they will need to stay relentlessly focused on the quality, value and efficiency of their delivery operations.