It’s been a tough few years for QSR chains. Traffic to venues is declining (for example, nearly 40 percent of Americans spend less at restaurants than a year ago), while operational pressures are multiplying. Spikes in fuel, energy and commodity prices have forced many chains to hike menu prices, steadily turning consumers off.
No surprise, then, that an in-person restaurant visit now needs to offer something extra, something delivery or home dining can’t match. Younger generations especially are seeking higher-quality experiences when they go out (74 percent of consumers would choose a venue for a more ‘elevated’ experience).
This cultural shift is reflected in the growth of competitive socializing venues like Flight Club, F1 Arcade, Level99 and TOCA Social. In the U.K., real estate specialist Savills has tracked a 58 percent increase in competitive socializing venues to 800 since it began measuring the sector in 2018. In the US, the category has grown by 84 percent since 2023, with more than 900 locations now spread across the US and Canada (White Hutchinson, 2026).
These venues include QSR offers, but what makes them so popular goes beyond the food and even the activities themselves. It’s about the communities they build, the stories people want to join, the reasons they have to return. They offer a useful playbook for traditional quick service.
Finding touchpoints for theatre
The lessons here aren’t about handing floorspace to F1 simulators or putting greens — convenience will always drive QSR. The takeaways are more conceptual. They’re about seeing the whole customer journey, imagining the visit as an experience rather than a functional sequence of events.
For QSR, that means looking hard at the moments usually treated as operational necessities: the entrance, the queue, the order screen, the wait, the pick-up point. Can each one do more brand-building work? More to engage, delight and stick in the mind. If competitive socializing shows us one thing, it’s that every touchpoint can be treated as theatre. Working with Level99, we knew, for example, that the arrival area had to change—from a one-dimensional sign over the door into an experiential portal. It’s now a spectacularly lit, sensory threshold that builds energy before guests even enter. F1 Arcade does something similar with its grid lighting, pit-lane cues and track-inspired details.
In a QSR environment, the same principle could turn dead time into time for brand narrative. Instead of asking customers to stand below a screen waiting for their number to be called, brands could use sound, motion, language and visual storytelling to build anticipation around what is being made, where it comes from and why it matters.
A reason to stay
QSR can also do far more to design reasons to stay, not just facilitate ordering and collection at speed. If in-person visits now compete with delivery, grocery and eating at home, the physical venue has to offer what those channels cannot: atmosphere, connection and a sense of occasion.
For Level99, we designed a central social destination bar that amplified the insight that the venue’s energy comes from its players not its technology. The new ‘Energy Core’ bar has become a place for players to recharge, reconnect and become part of the wider social experience – a piece of immersive storytelling that transforms the space into a meaningful part of the brand narrative.
Boda Borg is another good example, as it deepens engagement by feeding visitor preferences and gameplay data back into scores, feedback and final wrap-ups. That makes the experience feel personal and connected, rather than simply using data to push offers.
QSR venues could experiment with such different approaches. Through in-store content and narratives, by making more of the spaces they have or even by finding a way to interact with visitors via their phones, rather than losing their attention to the hand-held screen.
Use all the senses
The key is to think about the wider brand world, not just the menu or product. Many QSR brands have strong logos, colour palettes and hero products, yet do little to expand those into a multi-sensory experience. Competitive socialising concepts work harder. They create a world people want to be a part of.
The opportunity is to find the story that already sits inside the product and make it visible, through menu language, in-store rituals, soundtrack, lighting, packaging and staff interaction. If you’re one of the many high street chicken joints, why not make more of your founder story, your provenance, your local connections or a unique point of view, and infuse it into every brand expression?
Memories over transactions
The most important takeaway, perhaps, is to think in terms of repeat memories, not repeat transactions. Discounts may drive footfall in the short term, but they do not build affinity. Competitive socialising succeeds because it gives people something to talk about, photograph, compare and improve on next time. A QSR visit can become more memorable through engaging rituals, shareable moments, playful challenges, community nights or partnerships that extend the brand world rather than simply adding another product to the board.
The challenge for QSR today is that it has to go beyond speed and convenience. Those still matter, but when everyone can be fast, the greater differentiator is meaning and immersion. Competitive socializing shows what happens when operators design for anticipation, participation and memory. For QSR brands under pressure, that may be the shift that turns a quick meal back into a reason to visit.
Rory Sutherland is the Creative Director at LOVE, a brand design agency based in England and New York.
