Nando's named the fast food chain we're missing the most

Since then, we’ve been left with some serious cravings for our favourite meals and take-outs, unsure of when we’ll next be able to enjoy a Greggs steak bake.

Using social listening tools, RivaliQ and Brandwatch, the engagement and sentiment for a total of 233 recipe related social posts were analysed by Magnet, across seven popular UK restaurants and fast food outlets.

The Top 5 restaurants we’ve missed the most are:

• Nando’s

• Greggs

• Wagamama

• McDonald's

• Pret UK

With a total engagement of 199,390, as a nation we’re clearly missing Wagamama and it’s not gone unnoticed by the restaurant.

Over the last 11 weeks, Wagamama have released nine of their most lusted after recipes, including their famous katsu curry, bao buns and chill chicken ramen.

The 6,490 shares of their posts also suggest people are keen to share the recipes with friends and family – perhaps in the hope of recreating the Wagamama restaurant experience via Zoom. 

While Pret and Greggs have also seen impressive engagement on their recipe posts, it’s Nando’s who takes the top spot for the most missed recipes.

The South African restaurant chain may have only released a handful of recipes from their popular menu, but it’s clear us Brits are longing for a cheeky Nando’s, with a total engagement of 49,356 across just eight posts.

There has been a growing demand for McDonald’s to re-open their drive-thrus since lockdown began. However, the release of their legendary Sausage and Egg McMuffin and Hash Brown recipes failed to stir up excitement, with a total engagement of 3,793 and just 503 people sharing the posts with their own followers.

Using Brandwatch, we analysed the Twitter reaction to each of the recipes, to reveal which chains had seen the highest response rate, including at-home recreations, and the sentiment behind those posts.

Meanwhile, analysis revealed Subway to be the most talked-about restaurant, perhaps due to their relatively simple sandwich-based recipes, the fast-food chain saw a strong uptake in user-submitted recipe responses, with a total of 1,453 people engaging.

However, their neutral sentiment percentage of 98% suggests people weren’t blown away by the recipes and results themselves.

Greggs and Wagamama’s recipes were seemingly well-received by Twitter users, with the restaurants seeing positive sentiment scores of 28% and 26% respectively.

It was, however, the recipes released by Pret that have been the most well-received, with the sandwich and coffee shop seeing 68% positive sentiment across their recipe related posts.