Restaurant Traffic Trends: Inside Track
Fast-food customers who eat in tend to spend more money, ordering drinks and side dishes.
By Mary Boltz Chapman, Editor-in-Chief -- Chain Leader, 6/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
Guests filling the tables at fast-food restaurants spend more than the average user, according to Quick-Track, a quarterly survey by San Clemente, Calif.-based research firm Sandelman & Associates. QSR customers dining in the unit on their most recent occasion spent an average of $5.32 per person vs. $4.91 for all users’ last purchase occasions, a 21-quarter average shows.
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Fully 95.4 percent of fast-food customers dining in the restaurant on their last occasion had a beverage (vs. 77.7 percent of all users). 48.7 percent of those eating in had cola or diet cola and 11.3 percent had water.
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According to a 21-quarter average, 67.2 percent of guests dining in on their last visit had a side dish. 57.2 percent of all fast-food users did.
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Those eating in were less likely to use a special deal or promotion (15.2 percent vs. 20.8 percent).
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Eat-in comprises 29.8 percent of all fast-food occasions, a 21-quarter average shows.
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While lunch makes up 39.9 percent of all QSR users’ most recent purchase occasions, it makes up 54.0 percent of eat-in occasions. Dinner is 49.6 percent of all occasions and 37.6 percent of eat-in occasions.
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Eat-in patrons are more likely to dine with friends (22.7 percent vs. 17.3 percent of all QSR users) and less likely to dine with their children (24.8 percent vs. 27.2 percent), according to 21-quarter averages.
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26.2 percent of fast-food customers dining in on their last visit ordered hamburgers; 21.1 percent had chicken, submarine or other sandwiches; and 16.0 percent bought pizza. Of all users, 23.8 percent had burgers; 17.8 percent, sandwiches; and 24.4 percent, pizza. -
Compared to all-occasion averages, the only segment that gets a measurably greater share of eat-in occasions is the sandwich segment, which comprises 12.4 percent of purchases of those who ate in the restaurant on their last visit vs. 10.3 percent of all occasions. Regional/other chains captured 23.9 percent of eat-in occasions and 17.8 percent of all.
Methodology: Customer trend data is based on the quarterly Quick-Track survey by Sandelman & Associates, a San Clemente, Calif.-based research firm. Quick-Track queries a nationally representative sample of 600 fast-food customers on a host of demographic and usage questions. The firm defines “QSR eat-in users” as those who have purchased meals for eat-in from a QSR chain at least once in the past month. Most-recent purchase data is based on all QSR users whose dining type was eat-in on their last purchase occasion.
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