High street restaurant brands score highly in customer satisfaction survey

The list, compiled by The Activate Solutions Group and incorporating brands from 14 different sectors, saw restaurants score the highest overall when it came to customer service and emotional response with Nando’s, Pizza Express, Harvester and Pizza Hut also appearing in the top 50.

Other food and drink brands making the list include Pret A Manger, West Cornwall Pasty Company, JD Wetherspoon, Yates’s and Greggs.

Strengths and weaknesses​

Activate Solutions Group chief executive Mike Cottman said the survey, which took place across 10 high streets across the country over a two week period, was designed to show where strengths and weaknesses lie on the high street.

“While there is always room for improvement, overall the food and drinks sector did well. Restaurants came top with cafes fourth and bars and pubs in fifth place. Fast food outlets overall have a lot more work to do, having achieved eleventh place out of the 14 sectors we looked at,” he said.

“We all know consumers these days demand a lot more from their high street experiences and it’s up to all of us to ensure we’re doing everything we can to meet their ever increasing expectations. Tracking data of this type is the best way to tackle this.”

Brand growth​

The news comes as a report unveiled at the Arena Christmas lunch by foodservice consultancy Horizons on Monday shows that high streets will continue to be a target location for growing restaurant and pub brands over the next five years.

“London is by no means the only area of the country where successful brands are expanding. The high street, market towns and regional shopping centres as well as major cities are places for expansion and where we’ll expect to see growth in the next five years,” said director of services Nicola Knight.

The two biggest growth markets for the restaurant sector over the next year will be fast casual (£5-10 spend-per-head) with brands such as Itsu, Chilango and Frae leading the charge and casual (£10 to £15 spend-per-head) with growth led by Bills, Giggling Squid and Handmade Burger Company. 

A report highlighted in the December issue of Restaurant magazine​ also proves that the high street is still the preferred place for consumers to eat out. 

According to the report by Deloitte, 43 per cent of consumers prefer to eat in a high street restaurant and 36 per cent would like more choice of restaurants in this area.