The best UK business ideas for entrepreneurs in 2024

Looking to begin your personal enterprise in 2025? At Simply Business, we`ve delved into our customer data (plus what`s trending online) to expose the modern-day developments amongst small agencies and the self-employed.

What are the maximum famous new enterprise ideas, and the way has growing price of walking a enterprise impacted those developments? Here`s what we`re predicting for 2025 – hint: we`re really a nation of foodies.

1. Takeaway meals

Takeaways top our listing because the quickest developing enterprise idea – with a sixteen in line with cent growth from 2023 to 2024.

Takeaways may be a incredible enterprise possibility as greater humans are selecting to consume of their houses instead of at a restaurant. Recent research from Statista display that people elderly 30 to 49 spent a median of £5.80 every week on takeaways in 2022.

Takeaways clearly lend themselves to a number cuisines, so if you`re obsessed with a selected meals, takeaways may be a incredible manner to proportion it with a huge market. To get started, you`ll want extremely good cooking skills, enterprise savvy, and an information of meals hygiene regulations.

2. Security Services

Our second fastest growing business was Security Services, with a growth rate of 14%. And with the Office for National Statistics reporting that recorded crime reached 6.7 million in the year to March 2024, it’s easy to see why.

Being a security guard requires a lot of physical fitness at the start, but the start-up costs are low, and you can spend your time guarding valuables or surveilling the public, depending on your interests.

3. Handmade Crafts

Selling handmade crafts, whether online or at a street stall, is our third fastest growing business, with insurance policies increasing by 12% in 2024. Arts and crafts encompass a wide range of talents, so there’s an opportunity to start a business in whatever your specialty.

In addition to your chosen career, selling handmade crafts requires a good knowledge of marketing, accounting and general business skills.

4. Greeting Cards

According to Google Trends, greeting cards are an emerging topic for small business ideas. With low start-up costs, it can be a good business opportunity for people with design skills and creative ideas.

There are many platforms where you can sell your designs, including Thortful, a platform dedicated to greeting cards. You can also try selling on Etsy, or at a local shop or market stall.

Keep your design fresh by keeping an eye on current pop culture trends and memes, and don’t forget to promote it on social media.

5. Food Stalls

The second food-related business on the list, food stalls, recorded a growth rate of 9%. One advantage of opening a food stall over a regular restaurant is mobility. Many food stall owners travel around the country, setting up camp at festivals and popular tourist spots, making it a great option for people who enjoy traveling as much as they enjoy cooking.

Make sure you know the regulations you need to meet to open your own food stall. Find out everything you need to know in our guide to the street food business.

6. Virtual Assistants

Being a virtual assistant is also a business trend; Google searches have increased 140% in the past 12 months. Virtual assistance is popular because it’s fully remote, has low upfront costs and is flexible to fit around existing commitments.

In addition to administrative and secretarial tasks, virtual assistants can also handle marketing, accounting and project management tasks, making it a diverse business opportunity for those looking for flexibility in their business opportunities.

7. Fast Food

Fast food restaurants round out this list with a growth of 2% year-on-year. In fact, there are now over 48,000 fast food restaurants in the UK, and that number is growing every year.

If you’re thinking about opening your own fast food restaurant, make sure you do some market research to find out what’s missing in your area. There may be a surplus of burger joints, but a shortage of pizza places.