Fat Pat’s
Chef Aanish Chauhan opened Fat Pat’s down a grimy Manchester alleyway in late 2021, serving subs in brown paper bags from a small hatch. Despite - or maybe because of - its unassuming location it quickly became a sandwich sensation, with many commentators claiming it to sell the best sarnies in city. Five years on and Chauhan has expanded with the opening in April of a second restaurant, this time in Shoreditch. It’s not his first foray into the capital, in summer 2025 he opened a dark kitchen in Bethnal Green, but this latest iteration is a more permanent fixture. Fans of the original will be pleased to know the Shoreditch restaurant is as equally idiosyncratic as the Manchester original with mismatched furniture that includes church pews and airport seating and very little to indicate it even serves food, and they will also be pleased that the sandwiches are just as good. Options include subs such as the Philly cheesesteak, hot honey fried chicken; and eggplant muffuletta while sides comprise Cajun fried shrimp, ziggy fries and onion rings. With the UK’s better sandwich sector booming, Fat Pat’s looks unlikely to stop at two sites.
Gracey’s Pizza
What began as a side-hustle during the Covid pandemic has grown into a serious pizza player with founders Grace Surman and James Woodley knocking out some of the UK’s best New Haven style pizzas. The duo laid down permanent roots in the Hertfordshire town of St Albans before moving into the capital and partnering with food hall brand Arcade. There are currently three Gracey’s site, one each in Arcade’s Battersea Power Station and Tottenham Court Road food halls as well as the St Albans original and a third is about to open within the new Arcade in Covent Garden.
Freight Island
Freight Island turned the food hall dial up to 11 when it made its debut in Manchester in July 2020, turning the city’s industrial Depot Mayfield into a buzzy food, drink and music venue that had live entertainment at its core and took inspiration from New York’s Coney Island and Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens. Since then the brand has expanded across the country and is about to open the doors to its 1,000-capacity venue Freight Brixton in South London. Much more is on the cards - it is due to open a site in Leeds’ Trinity development and also a 60,000sqft site in Newcastle that will reclaim the top floor of a former Debenhams department store as well as additional roof top space. Food halls are currently big business (see Blend Family and Market Place) and Freight Island has shown it is not afraid to go big.
Leon
The healthy fast-food business might not be an obvious choice for a brand to watch considering it launched more than two decades ago, but significant changes at Leon mean that it is very much a brand in the limelight. Last year co-founder John Vincent bought back the business from Asda owner EG Group and he has already set about making changes he thinks are required to revitalise the brand, including ditching its Roast Rewards subscription programme and re-investing in barista talent, with a renewed focus on training. As part of Vincent’s vision, Leon entered administration in late 2025 and has closed a number of under-performing sites and will then emerge from administration following a Company Voluntary Arrangement as a leaner business. This year Leon is also reinvesting in coffee innovation, with a number of new launches, including functional coffees, and is expected to overhaul its food offer. As part of his plans Vincent is bringing back some of the original Leon team to help the revival, including Nick Scovell to run restaurant operations and grow franchise opportunities, and Chris Burford as CEO.
Jamie’s Italian
The Naked Chef has indeed returned with his Jamie’s Italian restaurant brand having been revived on these shores thanks to a strategic partnership between Jamie Oliver and Brava Hospitality Group, the recently launched parent company of Prezzo Italian. The new restaurant in London’s Leicester Square has seen the return of new dishes as well as some classics from the past including the cured meat planks, prawn linguine, and Gennaro’s bolognese and is set to mark a larger revival for the brand in the UK in an attempt to mirror its continues success overseas. Brava says that up to 40 Jamie’s Italians could open over the next decade, which would be a higher number than when the brand was at its prime, and is already on the hunt for new locations.
Shrimp & Co
Seafood restaurant group Shrimp & Co has grown to four sites in its first year, with a target of reaching 50 sites within the next three years, as owner Imran Makda looks to fulfil his dream of his brand becoming ‘the Nando’s of seafood’. The brand began in Leicester and now operates two further sites in Birmingham, on Broad Street and in Star City as well as its latest restaurant in Brixton that opened in April. Shrimp & Co’s menu features a wide range of dishes that focuses on customisation, with sharing seafood platters as well as its signature shrimps, fish fillets and shrimp boils that come with a variety of sauces at spice levels that range from the mildest ‘smooth sailing’ to ’inferno’. Locations in places including Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester have been mooted for its future expansion.
My Delhi
Indian restaurant group My Delhi will make its Yorkshire debut later this year for its fourth restaurant. The group, which focuses on food from the capital of India, will open a 6,000sq ft restaurant in Leeds city centre in June, its biggest site to date. My Delhi was founded in 2019 by brothers Elahi and Shah Amin along with partners Gaurav Dayal, Gaurav Goyal, and Neha Goyal. They opened their first restaurant in Newcastle in May 2019, followed by sites in Sunderland and Leicester. As the name suggests, My Delhi’s menu reflects the breadth of Delhi’s food culture, giving it a point of difference in the Indian restaurant sector. The brand also has pedigree, winning BBC TV programme Britain’s Best Takeaway in 2023.
Permanently Unique Group
Specialising in unapologetically glam, Instagram-friendly restaurants, Permanently Unique Group is showing no signs of slowing down. Earlier this year, it brought its Greek-inspired concept Fenix to London. On Piccadilly, its latest opening goes toe-to-toe with other large and vibe-y luxury operators, not least Hide and Sexy Fish. More recently, founders Adam Jones and Drew Jones acquired the Canary Wharf-moored floating pavilion that was until recently home to Marceline, for a second London outpost of their Chinese-Japanese concept Tattu. The pair are also preparing to bring Italian-American brand Louis to the capital. Founded in 2015 with the launch of Tattu in Manchester and rebranded as Permanently Unique in 2023, the group is pursuing an equally ambitious international strategy. Last year, it opened Tattu in Dubai, atop Ciel Dubai Marina, which is set to be the world’s tallest hotel. Plans are also in place to roll out Fenix and Louis in Dubai, while a second international Tattu site is understood to be in the pipeline. Permanently Unique’s heavily tattooed founders know their market, building flexibility into each concept to offer a relatively accessible entry point while still encouraging big-ticket spend.
Chick-fil-A
The controversial US-founded fried chicken chain Chick-fil-A is having a second crack at the UK market after a failed attempt in 2019, when it briefly operated sites in Reading and the Scottish Highlands. Those premature closures were driven, at least in part, by protests over claims that the brand’s US charitable arm had donated millions to organisations opposing same-sex marriage, promoting conversion therapy, and campaigning against laws designed to protect LGBT+ people from discrimination. While Chick-fil-A continues to draw the ire of such groups, its second attempt appears to be faring better. The brand now operates sites in Kingston, Leeds and Belfast, with two locations in the latter. With rivals such as Popeyes, Slim Chickens and now Dave’s Hot Chicken enjoying a considerable head start, the company still has work to do. However, it would be unwise to discount one of the most popular fast food chains in the US. Chick-fil-A has a similar number of domestic sites to close competitors including KFC and Popeyes, but generates higher overall revenue. In fact, by sales it is currently the third-largest restaurant chain in the US, behind only McDonald’s and Starbucks. Not bad given the brand doesn’t trade on Sundays for religious reasons.
Blend Family
Founded in 2018 by husband-and-wife duo Matt Bigland and Nina Patel-Bigland, Blend Family grew out of the success of the northern UK’s street food scene. The business builds and operates multi-vendor food halls and, unlike some competitors in the UK’s rapidly growing food hall sector, works exclusively with independent operators. As such, it has assembled a diverse roster spanning everything from Mexican-American concept Fuego 1987 to Eritrean and Ethiopian brand House of Habesha. The pair began with Cutlery Works, an ambitious scheme to help regenerate Sheffield’s then wholly unloved Kelham Island. The pandemic saw expansion pause, but since 2023 the group has made up for lost time, opening sites in Salford’s Media City, Cambridge and near London’s Tower Bridge. This spring, it will launch Alfred Works in Birmingham as part of the Custard Factory regeneration. The 17,500sq ft venue is named after custard pioneer Alfred Bird and will house 15 kitchens alongside social gaming and family-friendly areas. Next year expansion will continue, with the opening of Elephant Exchange food hall in the heart of Elephant & Castle. The new food hall will bring together a mix of independent traders alongside a central bar and coffee shop.
Playing away: the UK brands crossing international borders
The UK restaurant sector is familiar with brands opening up on its shores, whether from across the channel, the Middle East or the US, but in the past it has been reluctant to return the favour. Over the past few years, however, this has changed, led by brands such as Burger & Lobster and then later by Hawksmoor. The steakhouse brand, which started out in Spitalfields, now has two restaurants stateside, in New York and Chicago, and a third is on its way, with a Boston site set to open later this year. Indeed, the US is regarded as the land of opportunity by a number of groups, which include JKS Restaurants, Dishoom and The Ivy. JKS Restaurants recently opened a site of its two Michelin-starred Indian restaurant Gymkhana in Las Vegas an Ambassadors Clubhouse in New York, joining its other international operations that include its Persian cuisine brand Berenjak having a presence in Los Angeles and New York and venues in the Middle East including in Riyadh, Doha and Dubai. Indian restaurant group Dishoom, meanwhile, will also make its international debut this year with the opening of a site in New York. London landmark The Wolseley is also heading across the pond with the opening of the first Wolseley-branded hotel in New York and Richard Caring’s recent sale of his restaurant brands that include The Ivy to an Abu Dhabi investor for a huge £1.4bn will likely also lead to the group’s expansion across the globe. It’s not just large UK brands that occupy the premium casual dining space that have their eyes set on overseas expansion. Health-focused QSR brand Framer J has justified its inclusion in last year’s Brands to Watch list with a site in New York part of its ongoing expansion plans, and Indian street food café brand Chaiiwala recently completed a series of popups in Houston, Texas, as it prepares for a full US launch later in 2026. One of the most eye-catching of international plays, however, is that from The Mayfair Chippy, which is bringing its battered fish and chips and sticky date pudding to Saudi Arabia following a franchise deal. Watch out world, the Brits are coming.