Last year 5.5bn visits were made to quick service restaurants, compared with 5.4bn in 2008, a jump of four per cent in three years. There was an increase in 7 per cent for the number of lunchtime visits, which accounts for nearly three quarters of the sector’s growth.
Busy residents of the capital are judged the most likely to use fast food restaurants according to the data, with the sector taking 55 per cent of meals eaten out in London compared with just under half elsewhere.
Guy Fielding, director of foodservice for Europe at NPD said: "Consumers in London spent 7 per cent more in restaurants this year and it is the quick service restaurants, serving burgers, ethnic dishes and chicken that have led that growth."
2012 predictions
Last week BigHospitality's sister publication Restaurant magazine made some predictions for 2012 and said that more basic noodle bars were likely to feature in the next year alongside more permanent sites of previously mobile street food establishments.
They also predicted that some restaurants would try to curb the dining voucher culture in the UK. NPD says vouchers and deals have largely been behind the growth of the fast food or quick service sector in recent years, especially in London.
Vouchers
"Meal deals and promotions account for 27 per cent of spend at commercial restaurants in London, but they accounted for 100 per cent of the growth. Consumers in London may eat out more than in other areas of the country, but only when the deal is right," said Fielding.
NPD argue dining vouchers are also the reason for the restaurants that experienced the greatest drop being those in the workplace and education or canteens whose share of the market has shrunk by 2.6 per cent.
A Deloitte survey released at the beginning of the month claimed restaurant vouchers were still popular with diners, but the majority of those surveyed said they would still eat somewhere if the discount was removed.