97 percent of U.S. restaurants are impacted by COVID-19-related dine-in shutdowns Restaurant customer transactions fell by 42 percent in the U.S. in the week ending March 29 compared to same week a year ago, according to a new report from NPD Group, Inc., a research and data analytics firm. About 97 percent of U.S. restaurants […]
97 percent of U.S. restaurants are impacted by COVID-19-related dine-in shutdowns
Restaurant customer transactions fell by 42 percent in the U.S. in the week ending March 29 compared to same week a year ago, according to a new report from NPD Group, Inc., a research and data analytics firm.
About 97 percent of U.S. restaurants are now under some level of restrictions, with most prohibiting dine-in service, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While steep transaction declines are being seen industrywide, some restaurant business models are better suited than others to retain revenue from existing off-premise business, like drive-thru, carry-out, and delivery, NPD contends. Quick-service restaurants, which typically have more off-premise business, experienced transaction declines of 40 percent in the week ending March 29 compared to year-prior period. In contrast, full-service restaurants, which aren’t usually set up for off-premise dining, saw transactions decline 79 percent.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, on-premise dining represented 52 percent of restaurant-industry revenue, and off-premise business — like carry out, drive thru, and delivery — represented 48 percent of revenue. Carry-out accounted for 53 percent of sales for off-premise modes, drive-thru 38 percent, and delivery 9 percent, per NPD. As of February 2020, digital orders represented 13 percent of all off-premise dollars.
“The transaction declines partially reflect the struggle of on-premise restaurants to pivot to off-premise models,” David Portalatin, NPD food industry advisor and author of “Eating Patterns in America,” said in a release. “Many restaurants that are attempting to make the move are doing so with limited menu offerings and without the benefit of drive-thru lanes. Anecdotally, some operators are giving up the cause and closing altogether.”
On the latter point, we’ve seen that happen with local eateries such as Laci’s Tapas Bar (see story on page 10).