May 2025 was the month the industry got a little more honest about where the power sits. Not with the menu, not with the fit-out, not even with the price point. It sits with whoever controls demand and the data that explains it.

That played out in delivery, in quick service expansion, and in the ongoing tidy-up of casual dining. Heading into summer trading off the back of April’s inflation jump to 3.5%, the smartest operators weren’t “waiting to see”. They were buying certainty wherever they could.

DoorDash buys Deliveroo, and delivery stops being a side hustle

The biggest signal in May was Deliveroo agreeing a £2.9bn sale to DoorDash, with the board recommending shareholders vote in favour. The headline number matters, but the detail matters more: it was pitched at around a 44% premium to Deliveroo’s 4 April closing price of 125p per share. That is a proper premium for an asset the public markets never fully fell back in love with.

Why this matters beyond the apps

For operators, this is not just “one logo replaces another”. Consolidation changes the negotiation. If DoorDash brings a more US-style playbook into the UK, expect harder conversations about commission structures, retail media, and who gets to see what customer data. That’s the real prize, the behavioural data that tells you whether your Tuesday deal actually shifted volume, or just discounted your existing regulars.

There’s also the staff angle, Deliveroo employees were lined up for a potential £65m payout. That kind of payday tends to accelerate talent churn across the sector, because suddenly lots of people can afford to take time to choose their next move. For operators already struggling to recruit strong shift managers and kitchen leaders, this matters.

KFC goes big, McDonald’s admits it’s slipping, and “execution” becomes the swear word

May was also the month of unembarrassed ambition in QSR. KFC put a stake in the ground with a plan to invest £1.5bn in the UK over five years, expand by 500 locations, upgrade existing sites, and create more than 7,000 jobs. That is not cautious growth, that’s a land grab for sites and occasions.

At the same time, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said the business is “losing market share in the UK to competitors it should be outperforming”. The brutal bit is that he didn’t blame the economy or footfall. The focus was on improving execution in the UK, while global like-for-like sales were down 1% in Q1 2025.

The operator takeaway

When the biggest brand in the category says “we’re not executing well enough”, everyone should pay attention. Because execution is where costs hide. It’s speed of service, it’s order accuracy, it’s dining room standards, it’s whether the breakfast rush is staffed for reality rather than hope. If KFC is adding 500 sites, those sites will hoover up labour, push up local wage expectations, and compete hard for convenience-led trade in retail parks and high streets.

This is also where the supply chain pinch shows up. UK foodservice inflation moved above 6%, with beef burger prices leading the surge, driven by raw beef prices and labour costs. Operators can’t promo their way out of that for long. They have to run tighter shifts and cleaner service, or the value story collapses.

Pubs are spending again, but they’re spending like landlords, not dreamers

In pubs, May had a more grounded tone: spend money, but spend it where it actually changes the guest experience and the P&L. Heineken UK committed £40m to upgrade and reopen pubs in its Star Pubs’ estate, with an estimated 1,000 jobs created. That is a clear signal that well-invested locals still have a future, but only if they are physically better than the alternative, whether that’s someone’s sofa or a shiny new QSR.

Then Marston’s laid out plans to install fully-funded solar panels on 120 pub rooftops over the next 12 months. Whatever anyone thinks about ESG comms, operators understand the point: energy is a controllable cost if you’re willing to do the work. Solar won’t fix a dead Tuesday night, but it can stop a good pub being dragged under by a utility bill.

And guests are changing the drinks mix

Stonegate Group CEO David McDowall also noted a “fundamental shift” towards low and no alcohol options, with a 32% increase in sales of those products. That is not a niche anymore. It changes back bar range, it changes upsell scripts, and it changes how we train teams to recommend something with confidence rather than apologising for it.

Casual dining’s reset button keeps getting pressed

While the top end talks about brand worlds and theatre, the middle keeps getting reorganised. Pizza Hut Restaurants UK was rescued by Directional Capital in a £10m deal that saved 139 restaurants and over 3,000 jobs, despite the company owing £53.1m before the rescue. Whatever the ownership structure, that is a reminder that big estates can still be operationally valuable, even when the balance sheet is a mess.

In delivery-led pizza, Papa John’s closed 13 stores in the south west after ending its relationship with a franchisee, with plans to secure new ownership and reopen the stores. That “close then reopen” story is becoming familiar across franchised hospitality: it’s a way to protect the brand while you fix the operator problem, but it’s painful in the short term for local customers and local teams.

And in higher-ticket dining, Rare Restaurants confirmed it will close its two remaining M Restaurant sites to focus on expanding Gaucho. That’s a telling decision. Even premium operators are looking at complexity and asking whether a second brand is worth the distraction when one brand is already working.

The common thread running through May is that operators are paying for clarity. Big platforms are buying distribution, QSRs are buying sites, and pub groups are buying down energy risk. Meanwhile, mid-market casual dining is doing the opposite, simplifying, consolidating, and cutting anything that doesn’t pull its weight.

Behind all of that is the same awkward question: where does the next booking, walk-in, or delivery order come from, and what did it cost to win?

Where measurement matters

If demand is being intermediated by apps, franchisors, and increasingly aggressive competitors, operators need tighter grip on what guests actually experience by daypart and by site. That’s where structured programmes earn their keep, not as “extra admin”, but as a way to protect conversion and customer satisfaction while the market shifts around you. Online Reviews Monitoring helps multi-site teams spot whether service speed, cleanliness, or food consistency is sliding in a specific region before it becomes a trend. And when you’re expanding, refranchising, or relaunching, Mystery Customer Visits give you a reality check on execution, the stuff the P&L feels first and the guest feedback describes second.

June is when the industry starts finding out what it’s really built for, long weekends, tourist traffic, and the first proper run of warm evenings. If you’d like a sample report or a quick chat about what’s possible, get in touch.