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From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 21 and over rises to £12.71 per hour, up from £12.21 — a 4.1% increase. The 18–20 rate rises from £10.00 to £10.85/hr (8.5%), and the apprentice/16–17 rate rises from £7.55 to £8.00/hr (6.0%). For full details on employer obligations, see ACAS guidance on NMW entitlement. Use the free NLW calculator above to model the exact cost for your team.

It depends on your team size and age mix. A typical small Thai restaurant with 6 full-time staff aged 21+ working 40 hours a week faces an additional £6,240 per year in wage costs. A mixed-age team of 8 (some 18–20) can face £7,400–£9,800 extra annually when you factor in the higher percentage rise for younger workers. The NLW calculator on this page gives you the exact figure for your roster in under 60 seconds.

Raw food cost for most Thai dishes runs between 20–32% of the menu price when sourcing from UK wholesale suppliers. Pad Thai sits at around 20–22%, green curry at 22–25%, and premium dishes like Weeping Tiger or Lamb Shank Massaman reach 28–32%. These raw margins look strong, but the true net profit is far lower once you account for 20% VAT, platform commissions (25–35%), labour, and energy costs. A dish with an 82% raw GP can easily drop to 15–20% net margin on a delivery platform.

Platform commission rates in 2026: Uber Eats charges approximately 30%, Deliveroo approximately 32%, and Just Eat approximately 14% (Just Eat uses a lower commission but also a per-order fee model for some operators). On a £13.50 Pad Thai via Deliveroo, you receive roughly £9.18 before VAT — leaving around £2.10–£2.60 actual margin after food cost. Many Thai operators don't realise this until they model it dish by dish.

A small independent Thai restaurant (30–50 covers) in a UK regional city typically costs £80,000–£180,000 to open, including fit-out, kitchen equipment, licensing, and initial stock. London venues can run £200,000–£400,000+ due to higher rents and fit-out costs. Key ongoing fixed costs include rent (typically 8–12% of revenue for a sustainable site), business rates (the 75% retail/hospitality relief dropped to 40% in April 2025; from April 2026 the relief scheme ends entirely, replaced by permanently lower multipliers — 38.2p for small RHL premises under £51k rateable value, 43p for larger sites. Critically, 2026 is also a revaluation year: rateable values for restaurant premises are expected to rise around 30%, which can largely cancel out the benefit of lower multipliers for many sites), and staff wages — which carry the added pressure of the April 2026 NLW increase.

The main UK wholesale suppliers for Thai restaurants are: JK Foods (Nottingham — nationwide, Tiger Tiger brand, jasmine rice and staples), Manning Impex (Surrey — 1,100+ SKUs, national delivery), Midlands Food Service (Burton-on-Trent — restaurant specialist, menu development), Lung Wah Chong (London — fresh Thai herbs, weekly air-freight), Thai Food Direct (Letchworth — full-service Thai specialist), and Sing Kee Foods (Leeds — Northern UK hub, 14,000 sq ft warehouse). For fresh aromatics like galangal and kaffir lime, Thai Fresh Direct (London) offers weekly refrigerated nationwide delivery.

As of June 2026, the Food Standards Agency lists 1,275 registered Thai food establishments across 253 UK cities and towns — 1,014 dine-in restaurants and 251 takeaways. London has the highest concentration with 280 Thai restaurants, followed by Leeds (27), York (24), and Edinburgh (20). This data covers FSA-registered food businesses; the total number including market stalls, delivery-only kitchens, and unregistered operators is likely higher.

For dine-in, a healthy gross profit (GP) margin on food is 65–75% (food cost at 25–35% of selling price). For delivery platforms, you need to target a higher menu price to achieve the same GP — after a 30–32% commission and 20% VAT, your effective GP on a 70%-margin dish can fall below 40% net. The UK industry average for overall restaurant net profit (after all costs) is 4–6% for a well-run independent — the sector average was 4.2% in 2024 (UKHospitality). The NLW rise and business rates changes in 2026 are pushing many Thai SMEs below that, making menu engineering essential.