Traffic Trends: How Burgers Stack Up

National burger chains still receive the most traffic, but their share continues to shrink.

By Mary Boltz Chapman, Editor-in-Chief -- Chain Leader, 10/1/2007

Hamburger chains comprise 40.0 percent of all quick-service restaurant users’ past-month purchase occasions, a 21-quarter average shows. But their share continues to shrink. It sank to the lowest point (37.1 percent) in 2005’s first quarter and again in the second quarter of 2006, according to the quarterly Quick-Track survey by Sandelman & Associates, a San Clemente, Calif.-based research firm.

• When Sandelman began National Quick-Track in 1995, burgers boasted 50.7 percent of past month purchases, and 35.0 percent of fast-food customers ordered a burger on their last purchase occasion.
• In second-quarter 2007, 23.7 percent of all QSR users had a burger on their most recent occasion.
• But don’t count burger chains out. They garnered 65.3 percent of past-month breakfast occasions, 42.6 percent of lunch occasions, and 53.9 percent of snack occasions. They received only 28.9 percent of past-month dinner occasions.
• 52.4 percent of QSR users who ordered a hamburger on their last visit did so at lunch, according to a 21-quarter average; 39.9 percent of all users’ most recent occasions were at lunch. 40.3 percent of respondents who had a burger did so at dinner; the evening meal comprised 49.5 percent of all users’ last occasions.
• Of those who bought a burger on their last occasion, 70.3 percent also had fries. 85.4 percent of them had a beverage.
• 48.0 percent of fast-food customers who bought a burger on their last occasion used the drive-thru, 29.8 percent ate in the restaurant, and 19.5 percent used carryout, according to a 21-quarter average. Of all users’ most recent occasions, 29.9 percent were drive-thru, 27.6 percent were eat-in, and 31.5 percent were carryout.
• The average amount spent per person was smaller for those having burgers on their last QSR visit: $4.36 vs. $4.97 for all occasions.
• Only 12.0 percent of fast-food customers having a hamburger on their most recent occasion used a special deal or promotion; 20.4 percent of all users did.
• Those having hamburgers were more likely than all fast-food users to dine alone (32.9 percent vs. 26.9 percent) and less apt to dine with their spouse (23.7 percent vs. 29.9 percent).

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 burger users" as those who have purchased a burger from a quick-service restaurant at least twice in the past month. Most-recent purchase data is based on all QSR users who purchased a burger on their last QSR occasion.