Fast food in Belgium: local heroes gain ground, while global chains gain momentum among loyal consumers

Fast food remains a deeply embedded part of Belgian consumption habits.
Between 2024 and 2025, millions of visits were spread across international fast food chains — such as McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC — and a dense network of locally rooted players, each competing for share and loyalty.

Using Accurat’s AI-powered market research, we analysed fast food visits across Belgium over time, looking at both all fast food consumers and a purpose-built customer segment of fast food lovers. This segment was created by Accurat to identify regular fast food consumers, defined as people who visit a fast food restaurant at least once per month.

By combining a total market view with this dedicated behavioural segment, the analysis makes it possible to distinguish between overall market dynamics and developments within the most engaged part of the market.

A key methodological differentiator is that thousands of independent local chip shops are grouped into a single store group. Together with Belgian-rooted chains such as Quick and Belchicken, this allows us to analyse the collective performance of local heroes alongside international players — something that is not visible in traditional brand-by-brand analysis.

What this tells us about fast food competition in Belgium

Three structural insights stand out:

• Local heroes gain share in the total fast food market, driven by broad consumer reach
• International chains gain momentum within the fast food lover segment, despite losing ground overall
• Behavioural segmentation and smart grouping are essential to understand how market dynamics differ across audiences

By grouping thousands of independent chip shops into a single store group and analysing a purpose-built segment of fast food lovers, this study shows how AI-powered behavioural insight reveals competitive dynamics that brand rankings alone cannot capture.