One in Five Brits Now Use AI to Pick Where to Eat - and High-Spenders Lead the Charge

The numbers dropped this week and they are hard to dismiss. Two separate bodies of research, published within two days of each other, confirm that artificial intelligence has moved from novelty to genuine front-of-house competition for British hospitality venues.

What the Data Actually Says

Zonal's latest GO Technology report, produced in partnership with NIQ and based on a survey of more than 5,000 British consumers, found that 19% of consumers are already using AI tools to plan visits to pubs, bars and restaurants, with a further 50% considering using the technology as part of their decision-making. That 50% consideration figure is the quieter bombshell: it means the current 19% adoption rate could be a temporary plateau before a much steeper curve.

The behaviour of those already using AI tools tells operators a lot about what is at stake. Among those already using AI to research hospitality venues, 45% use it to find reviews and ratings, while 43% use it to understand average food and drink prices. A further 38% use AI to view menus, 35% to check opening times and 28% to search for deals and discounts. In other words, AI is not replacing the visit; it is replacing the operator's own website as the first point of contact.

Trust levels are notably high for a technology that barely existed in mainstream consumer life three years ago. 76% of consumers either entirely or mostly trust AI engines when using them to find a pub, bar or restaurant, while 72% express the same level of trust in AI-generated search summaries.

The Premium Skew

Here is the detail that should sharpen every operator's attention. Guests who typically spend more than £60 when going out were more likely to use AI tools, at 23%, compared with 14% of those spending less than £5 a head. AI adoption correlates directly with the customers every margin-conscious operator is chasing.

Among those eating out more than three times a week, 42% are more likely to use AI, compared with those who go out once or twice a week. Frequency and spend: the two metrics that separate a casual visitor from a genuine regular, and AI is already embedded in both cohorts.

Age splits are predictable but still striking. 34% of Gen Z consumers use AI to research hospitality venues, compared with 19% across all age groups. In London, 39% of consumers use AI when deciding where to visit, almost double the national figure, which creates a particular exposure for capital-based operators relying on footfall rather than loyalty.

What Diners Want AI to Deliver

A separate piece of research from restaurant technology platform Toast, published on 6 October, put the consumer preference question from the other direction: not how people use AI to find restaurants, but what AI they want restaurants themselves to deploy. When it came to AI-powered improvements in restaurants, more tailored discounts and loyalty rewards topped the list at 23%, followed closely by faster ordering and shorter waits at 22%.

But there are clear lines consumers want drawn. Diners named resolving a complaint (25%) and answering questions about allergens or dietary needs (17%) as the least appropriate situations for automation. Allergen queries are a legal minefield, and guests evidently know it: human accountability matters when the stakes are medical.

Operators are tracking this closely. Just under a third (30%) of managers are using AI to personalise offers, loyalty rewards or promotions, and a further 34% are actively trialling it. The commercial signal is clear: 58% of restaurant managers who use AI say that its use for marketing and customer engagement has increased both customer visits and spend.

On the same day the Toast consumer research landed, the company also announced its Fall 2026 product release. Toast has added a new labour management solution to its platform, including a sales forecasting tool that helps operators plan staffing around anticipated demand, a Scheduling Agent that builds a complete schedule in seconds, and a Team Performance Tool that helps run menu item contests to boost sales. Operators and consumers are converging on AI from both sides of the pass.

The Discovery Problem Nobody Is Solving Fast Enough

Zonal's Tim Chapman put it plainly. "AI is rapidly becoming part of the customer journey. Consumers are moving beyond traditional search methods and are increasingly using AI to make more confident decisions about where to visit. It provides an easy way to find out different information in one place."

Karl Chessell from NIQ struck the same note but with sharper caution. "If these tools make it easier for consumers to discover pubs, bars and restaurants, AI can be a positive development. But it brings with it some major challenges, including how to ensure that outputs deliver accurate information, prioritise the right things and protect the reputation of the brand."

That last phrase carries real weight. An AI engine trained on stale data, an old menu, a closed kitchen, a price point from eighteen months ago, can drive a paying guest to the wrong expectation before they have even left the house. Inaccurate AI outputs are now a reputational risk, not just a data hygiene issue.

The Brand Registration Angle

The urgency around AI discoverability is landing at a peculiar moment for UK food brands. According to AIBD analysis of IPO (TMD) data as of October 2026, Class 30 UK trademark filings, covering staple foods including coffee, tea, sauces and confectionery, totalled just 224 in Q4 2026, down 88.3% against the prior period. A collapse in food-brand trademark applications may reflect tighter capital conditions or a consolidation of launch pipelines; either way, the brands that are registering are doing so in a thinner field, which sharpens the competitive value of each mark.

For AI discoverability, a registered brand with clean, consistent structured data has a measurable edge. The rating thresholds in published data are concrete: ChatGPT favours 4.3+ stars, Perplexity 4.1+, Gemini 3.9+. Star ratings, verified business data, and a defensible brand identity are the new SEO, and the operators building those foundations now are the ones AI tools will recommend first.

Established word-of-mouth still wins the headline, for now. 47% of consumers decided where to go using recommendations from friends and family, 32% using online reviews and 25% using venue websites. AI is growing from a standing start. In hospitality, standing starts have a habit of accelerating fast.