Does consistency come at a cost?

Walk into a Wagamama in Edinburgh or Exeter and the katsu curry will taste identical. It’s not luck, but the result of two decades of professionalisation in British casual dining. Food safety, staff training and allergen protocols are all executed with precision across hundreds of sites.

It’s a remarkable achievement. But it’s also quietly reshaping how, and what, Britain eats.

In this week’s insight, I explore how our national obsession with reliability has raised the floor of dining standards while lowering the ceiling for creativity. Independent restaurants that celebrate seasonality and local produce now find themselves judged by the same metrics that govern corporate chains.

And behind the kitchen doors, the numbers tell their own story. My analysis of ONS data from 2013 to 2025 shows that hospitality weathered Brexit and Covid worse than any other major sector — not through mismanagement, but because of structural fragility that still hasn’t been addressed.

British diners are safer, better informed and more food-literate than ever. But they’re also, increasingly, eating the same meal everywhere they go…

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