National Restaurant Association releases breakthrough report
Restaurant off-premises is heating up, but third party is not the only game in town. Delivery, takeout and catering are other components of off-premises business that restaurants can grow to continue to take market share and increase revenues. Restaurant chains are strategizing the best path forward for their businesses and customers, adopting an all-in approach to third party or hybrid models where they deliver food ordered on third-party apps themselves.
Technomic off-premises report, distributed by the National Restaurant Association
A new off-premises report from consulting firm Technomic, in partnership with the National Restaurant Association, provides some insights. Did you know that 92 percent of consumers say they use the drive thru at least once per month? The figure for takeout is 90 percent. And 79 percent of consumers are using restaurant delivery
The Chicago-based foodservice consultancy also found 39 percent of consumers say they are using the drive-thru more than last year and that more than a third of consumers surveyed are utilizing restaurant delivery more than last year. That’s an amazing opportunity for restaurants, provided delivery business is incremental and not just profit-dilutive.
Compared to last year, a total of 29 percent are using takeout more often. More than a third of consumers say that ordering in a restaurant or website app allows them to customize their orders more easily. However, 35 percent say that ordering on a third-party app is faster than the alternatives. Surprisingly, a third of consumers say that many of their restaurants don’t have ordering capabilities.
Restaurants harnessing technology
With regard to emerging technologies, more consumers use a digital assistant for ordering food than text—11 percent compared to 8 percent. Twenty-two percent use a kiosk. This is part of the reason restaurant chains are investing in voice-assisted technologies, conversational ordering and kiosk and tablet-based ordering devices. Also, a significant development arose recently. McDonald’s invested in Apprente, a conversational ordering company, and its launch of McTech Labs.
Restaurants are responding, according to the Technomic off-premises report. Seventy-eight percent of restaurant operators say that off-premises programs are a strategic imperative. Ninety-three percent offer takeout options, but only a little more than half offer catering. There are certainly big opportunities here. We’ll have more information about advances and news in the off-premises category in our upcoming fall Restaurant C-Suite Magazine issue.
To get more information about Technomic’s report, visit restaurant.org or technomic.com. That’s it for this segment. Stay with Eatery Pulse Streem for news coverage, insights and analysis of the restaurant industry. Also, sign up for Streem-only news at subscribe.eatery.news.
Photo credit: Brett Jordan
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