Nearly four in ten Gen Z diners now put ketchup on their Sunday roast. It's a small detail, but it points to something bigger happening on British plates: the nation's most traditional meals are staying put on menus, but the way people actually eat them keeps shifting.
That's the central finding from a new poll of 2,000 UK diners commissioned by ePOS and payments platform, Lightspeed (www.lightspeedhq.com/uk/). The research set out to map how British dining habits have moved over the past decade, and what that means for anyone running a restaurant, pub or café heading into 2027. What was uncovered: a strong pull back toward familiar, old-school dishes, and an equally strong push to update them with new condiments, global flavours and healthier twists.
Sauce wars: The roast gets a makeover
One of the more eyebrow-raising discoveries is what diners are now adding to their roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. Roughly 27% of people admit to adding ketchup to their roast, and that figure climbs sharply among younger diners. Almost 40% of Gen Z respondents do it, compared to just under a third of Millennials. Mayonnaise is a close second, favoured by 18% of diners overall and by one in four Gen Z respondents.
The takeaway for operators: no dish is too traditional to escape reinvention. Whether it's a shake of ketchup, a dollop of mayo, a spoonful of kimchi or a splash of hot sauce, younger diners are bringing bold, familiar flavours to even Britain's most old-school meals.
They want the old favourites back, and they'll pay extra for the real thing
Even so, this isn't a story of tradition being pushed aside. More than four in five people surveyed (81%) said they want pubs, cafés and restaurants to bring back the classic dishes they grew up eating, and Millennials are leading that charge for nostalgia at 85%.
What's more, that nostalgia comes with real spending power behind it. Over three-quarters of respondents (77%) said they'd happily pay more for a dish made using British-sourced ingredients, and 71% said they're more likely to order something if the menu tells them exactly which part of the UK the ingredients came from. For restaurateurs, provenance isn't just a nice-to-have, but a genuine driver of orders and revenue.
If it doesn't look good, does it even count?
There's a catch, though. Younger diners might crave comfort food, but they also expect it to be camera-ready. Social media has rewritten the rules of what a plate of food is supposed to look like, and now, 65% of Gen Z and 58% of Millennials say their expectations of how restaurant food should look have been shaped directly by what they see online. Even a plate of bangers and mash now needs a bit of pizazz if it's going to earn a spot on someone's feed.
From data to dinner plate: Three new takes on the classics
To translate these findings into something operators can actually use, Lightspeed teamed up with chef Sally Abé, who heads up Teal in Hackney and has worked at The Savoy, The Ledbury, Claridge's and The Harwood Arms. Sally developed three original recipes designed to honour classics while giving them a contemporary spin. She's well known for her commitment to British ingredients and for championing women in professional kitchens, making her a fitting partner for a project built around heritage and reinvention in equal measure.
Together, the survey data and the recipes can be a starter kit for anyone running a restaurant in 2026. And the overarching lesson is simple. Nostalgia still sells, but it sells best when it's given a modern edge.
Read more about the research and Sally Abé's recipes here: www.lightspeedhq.com/uk/british-classics/.
