Traffic Trends: Counter Culture

Fast-food carryout customers are more likely to come in the evening.

By Mary Boltz Chapman, Editor-in-Chief -- Chain Leader, 12/1/2006

While dinner comprises 49.5 percent of all QSR users’ most recent purchase occasions, it makes up 57.0 percent of carryout occasions, according a 21-quarter average from Quick-Track, a quarterly survey by San Clemente, Calif.-based Sandelman & Associates. Lunch makes up 40.2 percent of all users’ last occasions and 34.0 percent of carryout occasions.

• According to a 21-quarter average, carryout comprises 23.2 percent of all fast-food occasions. Drive-thru garners 40.5 percent; eat-in, 29.9 percent; and delivery, 6.3 percent.
• The average amount spent per person was the same for all fast-food users and those using carryout on their last occasion: $4.82.
• Guests using carryout on their last visit were more likely than all QSR users to use a limited-time special: 26.3 percent vs. 21.3 percent. Of carryout customers taking advantage of a deal, 26.9 percent learned about it from signs at the restaurant, 26.6 percent from direct-mail fliers, 25.0 percent from newspapers, and 13.0 percent from television.
• A 21-quarter average shows that 34.0 percent of QSR customers using carryout on their last occasion were with their spouse, 27.5 percent were with their children, and 27.3 percent were alone. Of all users, 30.1 percent were with their spouse; 27.4 percent, with their kids; and 26.9 percent, by themselves.
• 33.0 percent of customers using carryout on their last visit had pizza, while 25.0 percent of all users did. Only 14.6 percent of those using carryout bought a burger; 24.0 percent of all users did.
• Likewise, while 30.1 percent of all fast-food users ordered fries on their last occasion, only 18.7 percent of those using carryout did, according to a 21-quarter average.