Is the Restaurant Downturn Overblown?
Our Latest Research Says Yes.
While doom-and-gloom stories about declining demand for restaurant food dominates the headlines, industry trends and meta data from Placer.ai show that annual dine-in traffic at restaurant chains was relatively unchanged between 2023 and 2024. In fact, some recent data suggests modest growth in the second half of 2024 and cautious signaling of a positive outlook for 2025, specifically for full-service restaurants.
The truth is, despite rising costs and an uncertain economy, people in general are still eating out. And some are eating out quite a bit. However, and not surprisingly, who is eating out, how often, and where they are choosing to dine depends a lot on demographics, preferences, and individuals’ core ValuesTypes.
To better understand the nuances of consumer dining behavior, we recently updated our Restaurant Dining Study with a new nationally representative sample of 1,791 American adults. Here’s a taste of some of our findings, and the story isn’t all bad.
How do diners perceive their 2024 dining out habits compared to 2023?
- 42% of respondents said they dined out less in 2024.
- 28% said they dined out more.
- 30% reported no change.
Those who dined out less or reported no change were primarily low-frequency diners (eating out less than once a month), representing 24% of our sample. This group is 30% more likely to be female, tends to have household incomes under $50,000, and is predominantly over age 55, possibly on a fixed income. For these Americans, cutting back on dining out is an easy way to reduce spending.
Those who dined out more in 2024 were primarily medium-frequency diners (eating out 1-4 times per month) and high-frequency diners (eating out at least once a week), representing 54% and 22% of our sample, respectively. This is encouraging for restaurant marketers targeting low-hanging fruit.
Understanding who these high-frequency diners are, what preferences they have, and what they’re looking for in a restaurant is key to crafting effective messaging and designing incentives to drive traffic. How can you reach and message High-Frequency Diners?