UK hotels are increasing investment in their food and beverage operations at the fastest rate in eight years, according to new analysis from hotel performance consultancy HotStats, as operators recognise that in-house dining has shifted from a peripheral amenity to a meaningful competitive differentiator.
The analysis, drawn from financial performance data across more than 600 UK hotel properties, shows that F&B capital investment — covering kitchen refurbishment, restaurant redesign, and equipment upgrades — increased 22% year-on-year in 2025, and is on track to grow a further 18% in 2026 based on committed spend data collected from operators in January. The figures represent the strongest consecutive growth in this category since 2017-18.
Operationally, hotels are also spending more on F&B talent. Average head chef salaries at four- and five-star UK hotel properties increased 14% between 2023 and 2025, outpacing the broader hospitality wage growth rate, as hotels compete more directly with standalone restaurants for culinary leadership.
Why the shift
The driver, according to HotStats and the operators The Mise spoke with, is increasingly clear evidence in guest data that food and beverage quality is a primary factor in both guest satisfaction scores and repeat booking behaviour — particularly in the competitive four-star segment where room product differentiation is limited.
"We've spent years treating the restaurant as a cost centre to manage rather than a revenue opportunity to invest in," said the director of operations at one regional four-star group with eight properties. "What changed for us was tracking guest reviews with more granularity. When people come back, they talk about the breakfast, the bar, the Sunday lunch. The room is expected to be good. The food is what creates a memory."
TripAdvisor sentiment analysis published by CGA last month found that restaurant and F&B mentions feature in 61% of UK hotel reviews rated four stars or above — and that negative F&B mentions correlate more strongly with low overall scores than any other single service category, including room cleanliness.
The destination dining model
Several UK hotel groups are pursuing what the industry is increasingly calling the "destination dining" model — building a restaurant proposition strong enough to attract non-resident guests and generate standalone bookings, rather than serving solely as a convenience for hotel guests.
The approach requires material commitment: a chef with genuine culinary credibility, a front-of-house operation designed for restaurant rather than hotel guests, and a marketing strategy that positions the restaurant as a separate entity. When it works, it generates direct revenue, creates a visible public identity for the hotel, and — critically — provides a pipeline of talent retention for the wider kitchen team, who gain the stimulation of cooking for a broader audience.
Successful recent examples include Hrishikesh Desai's operation at Gilpin Hotel in the Lake District, the continued draw of Number One at The Balmoral in Edinburgh, and the transformation of the Fife Arms in Braemar into a destination dining and cultural venue that extends well beyond its rooms.
"The room pays for the bed," said one hotel group CEO. "The restaurant pays for everything else — and increasingly, it's what makes people choose you in the first place."
Breakfast as a retention driver
Alongside the dinner and destination dining push, operators are placing renewed emphasis on breakfast quality — a category that HotStats identifies as the single highest-volume F&B interaction in most hotel operations and one that disproportionately influences overall satisfaction.
Investment in breakfast is taking several forms: locally sourced produce lists replacing anonymous buffet staples, cooked-to-order options extending beyond the standard full English, and a growing appetite for regional specificity — Manx kippers in the Lake District, smoked Scottish salmon in Edinburgh, salt-marsh lamb hash in Wales.
"Guests are much more food literate than they were ten years ago," said the executive chef at a Cotswolds hotel group. "They notice if the eggs are from a named farm or if the bread is baked in house. These things cost more, but they're remembered."
The HotStats analysis projects that F&B's share of total hotel revenue will reach an average of 28% across UK four- and five-star properties by 2027, up from 22% in 2023 — a structural shift that is reshaping how hotels recruit, invest and compete.