Are we at 'peak pizza'? Fried chicken takes a slice of the market as gen Z tastes change

Pizza has become ubiquitous on British dinner plates thanks to brands from Pizza Express and Franco Manca to Domino’s and Goodfella’s - but is it still hot?

- Sarah Butler

Domino’s Pizza Group said this week that its chief executive of two years was leaving immediately, less than two weeks after he appeared to suggest that Britain may be reaching “peak pizza”.

Andrew Rennie - who worked for Domino’s for more than two decades and in the top job for two - told the Financial Times this month that there was not “massive growth” left in the UK’s pizza market. He said that as consumer demand for fried chicken was fast growing, broadening out the group’s menu seemed a “pretty obvious” thing to do.

Rennie’s calculations are borne out by the shrinking presence of pizza restaurants on British high streets after a period of rapid expansion more than a decade ago.

The number of chain pizza restaurants has fallen from 5,000 in 2015 to 3,750 today, according to restaurant analysts CGA, with Pizza Express, Pizza Hut and Papa Johns all closing outlets in recent years. Pizza Hut announced the closure of 68 restaurants a month ago, after the company behind its UK sites fell into administration.

Trish Caddy, associate director of food service research at market analysis company Mintel, said: “Pizza remains a cornerstone of UK fast food, with usage holding steady at around 45% of consumers from 2023 to 2025.

But she said this stability was in contrast to chicken shops, which had edged up slightly from 37% usage in 2023 to 39% in 2025.