- Irish afternoon foodservice traffic grew 2.8pc year-on-year in Q2 2026.
- Chicken QSR traffic rose 9.3pc year-on-year.
- Popeyes Louisiana Chicken and Dave’s Hot Chicken debuted in Dublin.
- Quick-service menu prices rose 3.5pc year-on-year.
- Morning traffic declined 3.3pc and late-night fell 1.2pc.
Irish foodservice traffic grew significantly in the afternoon daypart and the chicken segment during the second quarter of 2026. According to market data from Meaningful Vision visits between 3.00pm and 6.00pm experienced the strongest momentum at 2.8pc year-on-year growth. Morning traffic declined 3.3pc while late-night traffic fell 1.2pc.
Traffic to quick-service chicken concepts spiked 9.3pc year-on-year driven by a wave of new brand entries. This outpaced the broader quick-service restaurant capacity growth of 1.1pc for the quarter. The traffic surge coincides with the Dublin debuts of global chains like Popeyes Louisiana Chicken and Dave’s Hot Chicken alongside expansions from established brands like Taco Bell and German Doner Kebab.
Quick-service chicken operators managed to capture this traffic despite raising prices by 3.1pc year-on-year slightly lagging behind the total quick-service restaurant average inflation rate of 3.5pc. Dinner traffic grew 1.4pc while lunch traffic grew 0.4pc.
