Which restaurants are doing 50 per cent off in the government's new scheme for eating out?

In an unprecedented move to kick start the hospitality industry, in early July Rishi Sunak announced plans to give diners a major discount off their food bill in August.

Named the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, the plan offers 50 per cent off the bill or up to £10 off per head at registered restaurants.

At the time of the announcement the Chancellor said, “To get customers back into restaurants, cafes and pubs, and protect the 1.8 million people who work in them, I can announce today that, for the month of August, we will give everyone in the country an Eat Out to Help Out discount.” 

Since then, many popular high-street chains have said that they’re on board with the scheme - which requires businesses to ‘opt-in’ - and revealed which restaurants will be taking part. 

Wagamama is confirmed to be one of those, with Rishi Sunak making a visit to one of the chain’s restaurants soon after making the announcement. Sharing a photo of himself serving diners to Twitter, he said, “Great to pop down to @wagamama_uk after the statement today,” 

“They’ve already bought more than 2,000 staff back from furlough and will be one of the many restaurants to benefit from the VAT cut and ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ vouchers.”

Other food chains who have confirmed they are taking part in the scheme include fast-food restaurant, Burger King and Italian chain, Prezzo. 

This comes as the government launched plans this week to try and encourage the nation to make healthier choices when it comes to eating, in a bid to tackle obesity after a link was found between excess weight and a higher risk to health from Covid-19.

So which other restaurants are taking part in the scheme? And how do you claim your 50 per cent off? Here’s everything you need to know about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, starting on August 1. 

Which restaurants are doing 50 per cent off?

To be part of the scheme, businesses have to offer food that is ‘sold for immediate on-premises consumption.’

This will include restaurants, cafes, pubs that serve food, hotel restaurants, restaurants and cafes within tourist attractions, holiday sites and leisure facilities, dining rooms within members’ clubs and workplace and school canteens.

These are some of the restaurants who are offering 50 per cent off in the Eat Out to Help Out scheme: 

• All Bar One
• Beefeater
• Bills
• Burger King
• Brewdog
• Bella Italia
• Brewers Fayre
• Browns
• Cafe Rouge 
• Caffe Nero 
• Carluccios
• Costa Coffee
• Cote Brasserie 
• David Lloyd Health Clubs
• Everyman
• Five Guys
• Franco Manca
• Frankie and Benny’s 
• Fullers
• Gail’s Bakeries
• Giggling Squid
• Gourmet Burger Kitchen
• Greene King
• Harvester 
• Honest Burgers
• Joe & The Juice
• KFC
• Las Iguanas 
• Leon Restaurants 
• McDonald’s 
• Nandos
• Pizza Express
• Pizza Hut
• Prezzo 
• Pret A Manger 
• Starbucks
• Taco Bell
• TGI Friday’s
• Tim Horton’s 
• The Real Greek
• The Cornish Bakery
• Toby Carvery 
• Tortilla
• Turtle Bay
• Wagamama 
• Wasabi
• Wetherspoons 
• Yo Sushi 
• Young’s 

As more than 32,000 businesses have signed up to take part in the scheme, the easiest way to find restaurants near you is to look out for the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ logo in the windows or search via your postcode online.

Since the scheme was announced, businesses have been encouraged to sign up as it works as an incentive to encourage diners to eat in their restaurants, by giving them a discount which businesses then claim back from the government. 

What does the 'Eat Out to Help Out' logo look like?

Logos with ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ will be put into eating establishment windows from this week, to tell diners which restaurants are offering the discount. The logo is a white circle with a blue and red border, and blue and red writing.  

As shown by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak in this Twitter post, this is the logo that will appear in many shop windows in coming days as the UK prepares to take part in the ‘Eat Out to Help Out Scheme’.

Which Nandos are doing 50 per cent off?

As it’s a UK-wide scheme, meaning that establishments across the country will likely be involved, if a business such as Nandos has signed up to the scheme then all restaurants will also be. This means that every Nandos that has reopened will be offering 50 per cent off, up to £10 per head, to diners Monday through to Wednesday in August. 

Check whether your local Nandos restaurant has reopened on their website. 

Nandos confirmed that they are taking part in Eat Out to Help Out on their website, saying, “We’re taking part in the government scheme to give all our customers 50% off any meal or soft drinks, just for enjoying PERi-PERi as Eat-in.

“The offer is only available Monday-Wednesday and only in August so make sure you don’t miss out on your half price meal! We’re not taking bookings, but don’t worry there’s plenty of PERi-PERi to go around.” 

The chain has also said that they are offering a reduced menu as a result of the social distancing measures in place, gone cashless and diners will have to wait in a virtual queue where you scan a QR code and the restaurant will text when your table is ready. 

This is the same for all the thousands of restaurants that are offering 50 per cent off on the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, as only those that have reopened to diners with social distancing measures in place will be able to open to offer the discount.