Walking through many town centres today, the contrast to previous years is hard to ignore. The sense of buzz has faded; the steady flow of shoppers has slowed, and the lunchtime rush outside a Pret A Manger, once a familiar sight on high streets across the country, is no longer the symbol of everyday footfall that it once was. But heading home along the M6, a quick stop for food tells a different story. Just off junction 21 in Warrington, a queue of cars forms around Pret A Manger’s first UK drive-thru, with customers choosing convenience and speed without having to leave their vehicles. The footfall has not disappeared; it has simply moved.
For years, the high street was the natural home for UK brands. Restaurants went where people shopped, socialised and spent their leisure time. But as consumer habits evolve, restaurant brands are increasingly adapting their formats to meet customers where they are – from roadside destinations and motorway service stations to airports and transport hubs.
The appeal of travel-led locations is clear. They provide access to a captive audience and more predictable customer volumes, allowing brands to intercept consumers during existing journeys rather than relying on them making a dedicated trip to visit a restaurant. This opportunity has become even more attractive as travel has recovered strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Driving expansion
The rise of the drive-thru is the clearest example of this changing strategy. Once largely associated with traditional fast food, the format is increasingly becoming a major growth channel across hospitality as brands respond to growing demand for speed and convenience.
This shift also reflects a broader Americanisation of UK eating habits, with the US drive-thru market illustrating the scale of the format’s potential.
In the US, the drive-thru is central to the quick-service restaurant model, accounting for around 72% of QSR sales in 2025, up from 66% before the pandemic. Rather than acting as an additional sales channel, it is the primary way many customers interact with brands. Chick-fil-A illustrates the clear economic success of the model, with its drive-thru restaurants generating average annual sales of $9.2m in 2024, up from $7.1m in 2020.
The UK is now having its own drive-thru moment. Historically, the format was dominated by McDonald’s, alongside very few other QSR operators such as KFC and Burger King. That is beginning to change, with a growing number of brands making the drive-thru central to their expansion strategies.
Costa opened its 400th UK drive-thru earlier this year and plans to add around 40 more, while Greggs now operates more than 50 drive-thrus and has launched its first 24-hour site and has identified the format as a priority as it targets around 120 net new shops this year. New entrants are following the same approach. American entrant Popeyes has built much of its UK rollout around drive-thru locations, now with 85 sites in England, while Chick-fil-A UK is set to open its first drive-thru in Hamilton as its fifth overall UK site.
The drive-thru is also expanding beyond traditional QSR. Pret A Manger recently opened its first drive-thru in Warrington, signalling its belief that roadside and transport locations could offer viable growth opportunities in the future.
Looking beyond the drive-thru
The rise of travel-based dining is not just about new formats. Increasingly, casual dining operators are taking their existing restaurant propositions to roadside locations seeking to capture the high volumes of passing traffic without fundamentally changing their dine-in offer.
The concept of roadside restaurants is not a new one. Little Chef, established in 1958, once operated more than 400 restaurants across Britain’s road network, peaking at 439 sites, before changing consumer habits saw the brand disappear.
Loungers-backed Brightside has directly attributed its creation to the ‘void’ left by Little Chef. Launching in 2023 with an all-day dining concept designed to revive roadside restaurant dining, the brand has since expanded from its first site near Exeter to Saltash, Honiton and, most recently, Ram Jam in Rutland.
Others are following its lead, including Wagamama, which will open its first motorway service station restaurants at Extra MSA’s Beaconsfield Services on the M40 and Cobham Services on the M25 through a partnership with travel hospitality operator TRGC.
International operators are taking a similar approach. Chick-fil-A UK used motorway service areas as the launchpad for its return to the UK through a partnership with Applegreen, opening its first two UK restaurants in Northern Ireland at Applegreen’s Lisburn South motorway service area on the M1 and Applegreen Templepatrick on the M2. The brand has since expanded further into the UK with non-roadside restaurants in Kingston and Leeds.
Taken together, the moves suggest roadside locations are becoming not only an increasingly attractive route for expansion for established UK brands but also a strategic entry point for international operators entering the market.
Airport appeal
Airports are also emerging as a significant growth opportunity for casual dining brands as international travel continues to strengthen following the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel demand has not only recovered but is also expanding beyond pre-pandemic levels and in 2024, inbound and outbound travel to and from the UK reached the highest levels ever recorded. Overseas residents made 42.5 million visits to the UK, up from 38.0 million in 2023, while UK residents made 94.6 million trips abroad, compared with 86.2 million the previous year. Significantly, 2024 was the first year since the COVID-19 pandemic in which visitor numbers exceeded those recorded in 2019, demonstrating that the travel sector has moved beyond recovery and entered a period of sustained growth.
For operators, the attraction lies in the commercial opportunities created by high passenger volumes with extended dwell times and a captive audience. Unlike the high street, where consumers have a wealth of competing options, airport passengers have fewer choices once airside, creating an attractive environment for established restaurant brands.
The past 18 months have seen a wave of activity, including the debut of Wagamama’s travel-focused concept, ‘Wagamama on the Move’. Launched at Heathrow Terminal 5 in partnership with TRGC. The format was developed in response to growing demand for higher-quality food-to-go options in airports and forms part of TRGC’s wider strategy to create differentiated hospitality offers across travel locations. The launch builds on Wagamama’s existing airport presence at London Gatwick’s North and South Terminals, with another location planned for Birmingham Airport this summer.
Other recent announcements underline the breadth of interest in the sector. Slim Chickens made its UK airport debut this month (July) with a 130-cover restaurant at Heathrow Terminal 3, following a new long-term development agreement between Boparan Restaurant Group, which owns the master franchise rights to Slim Chickens, and TRGC to support further airport expansion. July also saw Bill’s open its first airport location at Heathrow Terminal 2, adding another established casual dining name to the growing list of brands targeting airport locations for the first time.
The activity follows on from last year when Wasabi opened its first franchised restaurant at London Luton Airport in partnership with Lagardère Travel Retail, while Five Guys entered the UK and European airport market with a Heathrow Terminal 5 site. Popeyes also expanded into travel hubs through a partnership with SSP Group, opening its first location under the deal at Birmingham Airport, also marking its debut into the airport market.
The momentum also continues among established airport operators. Earlier this year, Giraffe opened its seventh UK airport restaurant at Edinburgh Airport through owner Boparan Restaurant Group’s ongoing partnership with TRGC. Pret A Manger has also reinforced its commitment to the sector, this week opening a new flagship store in Heathrow Terminal 5 - its ninth outlet at the airport. The brand says the opening reflects its continued investment in travel locations, with an estate that now spans 259 shops across airports, railway stations and motorway service areas worldwide.
Together, the expansion highlights the growing role airports are playing in casual dining growth strategies. As the travel sector has recovered, brands are not only making their airport debuts but already committing to future expansions across UK terminals.
From drive-thrus and motorway service stations to airports brands are increasingly following consumers rather than waiting for them to come to the high street. Yet the market remains relatively underdeveloped, particularly among casual dining brands, leaving significant room for growth as operators look to capture high-volume, convenience-led occasions.
With many brands already putting expansion plans in place across travel locations, and the scale of the US market demonstrating significant potential, travel-based hospitality is going places.