NEWS
In our final round-up of 2025, we spotlight restaurant openings, all the key end-of-year data, new products in retail and so much more.
Cultural Heritage status for Italian cooking Italy has become the first country to win UNESCO recognition for its entire national cuisine, following a government campaign which began three years ago. The UN’s cultural body made the announcement that Italian cuisine is an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
at a Delhi convention. And while Neapolitan pizza making and opera singing are two of 21 Italian traditions already on the list, this is a unique award for the country as a whole. UNESCO stated: “Italian cooking is a daily practice based on knowledge, rituals and gestures that have given rise to a cultural and social blend of culinary habits, creative use of raw materials and artisanal forms of preparation. This blend has become a common tradition and developed a socio-cultural identity model characterised by living gastronomic landscapes that reflect and enhance the biocultural diversity of the territories.” Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, said: “We are the first in the world to receive this recognition, which honours who we are and our identity. Because for us Italians, cuisine is not just food or a collection of recipes – it is much more. It
is culture, tradition, work and wealth. “We already export €70 billion in agri-food products, and we are the leading economy in Europe in terms of agricultural added value. This recognition will give the Italian economy a decisive boost to reach new heights.” The Intangible Cultural Heritage body also focused on family and community, stating: “The element is practiced by men & women of all ages, without predefined role, exchanging suggestions, recipes, stories and sharing different sensory and taste experiences. In the sphere of family and friends, Italian cooking becomes ‘home cooking’ that finds in the ‘Pranzo delle feste’ the most emblematic ritual moment in which traditional dishes often handed down from grandparents to grandchildren recur.” Italy’s Agriculture Ministry had been pushing for the status since Meloni’s government took office in late 2022.
Direct-to-door delivery enjoys major upturn Restaurant delivery sales jumped 7.6% year-on-year in October, as consumers continued a long-term move towards direct-to-door orders, CGA by NIQ’s latest Hospitality at Home Tracker reveals. The comparison is the strongest of the year so far on a like-for-like basis, and a welcome boost for managed restaurant groups after a challenging 2025 for dine-in sales. The figure is exactly double the UK’s rate of inflation in October, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index. Growth in deliveries was in sharp contrast to takeaway and click-andcollect orders, which fell 5.1% from October 2024 – one of the worst figures of the year, as consumers’ steady move away from picking up food continued. Combined delivery and takeaway sales by value were 3.7% ahead of the same month last year. On a total 6 231_P&P_Dec25_p06-18_NEWS G AB.indd 6
basis – including from newly-opened restaurants or where deliveries and takeaways have been introduced for the first time – sales were 10.9% ahead. The Tracker shows deliveries attracted 13.1 pence in every pound spent with restaurants in October. This is nearly treble the value of takeaways and clickand-collect orders, which earned 4.7p in every pound. Karl Chessell, director - hospitality operators and food, EMEA at CGA by NIQ, said: “The rise of third-party delivery platforms has dramatically changed the game for restaurant at-home
sales. After a stalling of growth in 2025, and below-inflation increases from in-restaurant sales throughout the year, October brought a welcome boost for deliveries. However, double-digit total growth also indicates a wave of new delivery offers and intense competition in this sector.”
www.pizzapastamagazine.co.uk 17/12/2025 15:53