Bakeries dominate the UK’s favourite restaurant brands

The most popular dining brands in the country are all bakeries, new research can reveal – with bakery giant Greggs being the UK’s most popular restaurant brand.  

The study, by commercial kitchen experts Maxima Kitchen Equipment, compared the fame and popularity of 100 dining brands in the UK, and used YouGov data to calculate a relative approval rating for each one.  

An impressive 71% of people who were familiar with Greggs said they like it, while Krispy Kreme had the second highest approval rating at 67%.  London-based bakery Lola’s Cupcakes came in third on the list at 64% – well ahead of the UK’s average approval rating (47%) for all brands in the study.   

Greggs has more than 2,000 locations across the UK, with more than 300 being opened over the past five years as Brits have continued to enjoy its range of pasties, cakes and sandwiches. 

Hummingbird Bakery was also one of the nation’s all-time favourite eateries. Despite only having three branches in the UK, it earned the fourth highest approval rating in the country from those who knew about it – 62%. 

French bakery brand Patisserie Valerie also led the charge as one of the UK’s favourite restaurant brands, tying for sixth place with Mexican restaurant Las Iguanas.  

Moving on to more savoury matters, Pizza Hut took first place as the UK’s most popular pizza brand. As the nation’s 11th favourite dining brand, Pizza Hut beat out Domino’s (which came 14th), Pizza Express, which came in position 24th, and Papa Johns, which came 40th on the list of best-loved dining chains.  

Salad chain Tossed, steakhouse Miller & Carter and the West Cornwall Pasty Co. also featured in the top ten with some of the highest approval scores in the UK.  

On a generational level, the official favourite dining brand of Millennials is Krispy Kreme, followed by Greggs and Domino’s Pizza.  

Baby Boomers ranked Greggs, Wetherspoons, and fish and chip brand Harry Ramsden’s as their top three favourites, while Gen X put Tossed, Pizza Hut and Burger King at the head of their list.  

Commenting on the study, a spokesperson for Maxima Kitchen Equipment said: “It’s fascinating to see how much bakery chains dominate the top ten favourite eateries in the UK. Despite the global power of dining brands like McDonald’s and KFC, we’re seeing that bakeries like Greggs, Lola’s Cupcakes and Hummingbird Bakery are actually the nation’s most enjoyed.”

Top ten favourite dining brands in the UK   

Top ten favourite dining brands for Millennials 

Top ten favourite dining brands for Baby Boomers 

Top ten favourite dining brands for Gen X