28% of UK consumers are interested in restaurant-branded heat-at-home ready meals, rising to 36% among 16–34 year olds (consumer research, October 2024). The "fakeaway" habit formed in lockdown never left — and in 2024 it turned into a visible retail wave, with Chopstix launching cooking sauces into over 500 Iceland stores and Coco di Mama putting baguettes into 650 Sainsbury's.
Why guests want it
Economic pressure meets brand trust. A supermarket ready meal is a trade-down; a ready meal from a restaurant the guest already loves is a trade-up within a smaller budget. For the 41% of young takeaway consumers who prefer recreating restaurant-style meals at home, a branded product is the shortcut.
The realistic version for independents
Full retail distribution is a chain's game — food manufacturing compliance, shelf-life engineering, listing fees. The independent version is direct: a weekend "at home" menu of finish-at-home dishes, sold through your own ordering channel, collected or delivered locally. Several London and regional restaurants proved the model in 2020–21; the difference now is doing it as a permanent quiet-day revenue line rather than a survival measure.
What it does for the brand
A branded at-home product keeps the restaurant present between visits and reaches guests on nights they were never going to book. It is also a data channel: an at-home order through your own system adds to the guest record, where a supermarket sale never would.
Operator takeaway
Test with a short at-home menu sold for collection on your quietest day. If the orders come from postcodes and guests you recognise, you have a retention product; if they come from strangers, you have an acquisition product. Either result justifies the experiment.