Curbside, drive-thru and limited takeout appear to be growing to levels that are allowing sustainable levels of sales to occur for many food service operators, despite limited dine-in capacity, a new report from Technomic finds.
In the last week, casual-dining and fine-dining restaurants saw off premise sales jump 13 percentage points from the week ended April 19-26. Family-style restaurants saw a growth of 11 points, and buffet-style restaurant orders also increased by 10 points this week.
Indeed, 56% of consumers indicate they won’t return to restaurants for at least a month – and among consumers 65 and older, as well as among women, the numbers planning to wait are higher.
But 32% of consumers say they will feel comfortable going out to eat as soon as social-distancing restrictions are lifted, Technomic says.
“Our research shows that off-premise sales will be a more prominent feature of the business in the future,” Technomic says, adding: “This will have an impact on how each restaurant goes to market. Many have had to adjust their long-held positions on whether to adopt delivery or not, whether to add a drive-thru to a more upscale fast casual and how to manage curbside pickup. It is likely that the viability of a business will be dependent upon catering to consumers through new pathways. Opening the restaurant to provide service through multiple off-premise channels both online and inside the building will be crucial to success.