Restaurants and fast-food chains officially closed their doors to the public on 20 March.
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 McDonald’s burger.
Social media was inundated with both professional and amateur chefs sharing their famous recipe replicas. It wasn’t too long before restaurants heard the desperate cries for the real thing and started to share their top-secret recipes via their channels.
Whilst a number of restaurants have started to slowly open their doors for delivery and take-outs, people are still longing for their favourites.
Data methodology
Using social listening tools, RivaliQ and Brandwatch, between 1 March and 11 May the engagement and sentiment for a total of 233 recipe related social posts was analysed, across seven UK restaurants and fast food outlets. Using this data, here are the yummy results..
Which restaurants have we missed the most?
With a total engagement of 199,390, as a nation we’re clearly missing the Asian inspired cuisine of 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!
Whilst Greggs has also seen impressive engagement on the recipe posts, it’s Nando’s who takes the top spot for the most missed recipes. The chain may have only released a handful of recipes from their menu, but it’s clear we are longing for a cheeky Nando’s, with a total engagement of 49,356 across just 8 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.
The most talked-about restaurants
So, which of the released recipes have left our taste buds tingling and which have left a bad taste in our mouths?
Using Brandwatch, the Twitter reaction to each of the recipes was analysed.
The 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.
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Full data methodology
RivaliQ was used to track engagement metrics on a range of posts relating to homemade recipes from each brand featured above. Posts were measured across various social channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Social listening software, Brandwatch was used to analyse the conversation around 7 different brands’ homemade recipe launches. Each query tracks the name or Twitter handle of the brand, and searches for posts including the term “recipe”, the brand affiliated hashtag (I.e. “PretRecipeBook”) and a selection of dishes or ingredients. Social sentiment is calculated using AI supplied by Brandwatch, and works on a keyword basis. Data provided on a global scale, taken from the 1st of March to the 11th of May 2020.
