HMRC said the majority of claims - 55% - were made by restaurants, with pubs accounting for 28% of meals.
Around 93% of claims were made by small businesses with just one outlet, although these represent just over half of the total value of claims as chains received larger amounts from the Government.
A total of 172 large businesses - such as McDonald’s and Pizza Express, represented 18,134 outlets which made claims during the programme, HMRC said.