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Chicago,
IL – April 2021 / Newsmaker Alert / In mid-March 2020, U.S. governing
authorities, to get the COVID-19 global pandemic under control, restricted
on-premises dining at roughly 70% of all U.S. restaurants, a historically
defining moment for the industry. By the last week of March 2020, customer
transactions at major restaurant chains had fallen by -43% compared to
year-ago and by -77% at full service chains, which were most impacted by
the dine-in restrictions. In March 2021, with the lifting of restrictions
and more consumers vaccinated, customer transactions at major restaurant
chains were up +32% compared to the steep declines year ago, although still
down -6% compared to two years ago, March 2019. Major chain transactions
at full service restaurants were up +210% this March compared to a year
ago, or down -25% compared to two years ago, according to NPD’s
CREST® Performance Alerts, which provides a rapid weekly view of
chain-specific transactions and share trends for 75 quick service, fast
casual, midscale, and casual dining chains representing 53% of the commercial
restaurant traffic in the U.S.
Quick
service restaurant chains, many of which had well-developed off-premises
services, like drive-thru and carry-out prior to the pandemic, have fared
better than full service restaurants this past year. Customer transactions
at quick service restaurant chains declined -40% by the end of March 2020
compared to same period year ago. In March 2021, QSR transactions were
up +29% compared to a year ago and down -5% compared to March 2019, NPD
reports.
“There
is now optimism on the part of the American consumer, which helps to unleash
pent-up demand for dining out,” says David
Portalatin, NPD food industry advisor and author of Eating Patterns
in America.” “Although transactions are still down compared to pre-pandemic
times, there is improvement and a signal that we’re headed in the right
direction on the road to recovery.”
About
The NPD Group
NPD
offers data, industry expertise, and prescriptive analytics to help our
clients grow their businesses in a changing world. Over 2,000 companies
worldwide rely on us to help them measure, predict, and improve performance
across all channels, including brick-and-mortar, e-commerce, and B2B. We
have services in 19 countries worldwide, with operations spanning the Americas,
Europe, and APAC. Practice areas include apparel, appliances, automotive,
beauty, books, B2B technology, consumer technology, e-commerce, fashion
accessories, food consumption, foodservice, footwear, home, home improvement,
juvenile products, media entertainment, mobile, office supplies, retail,
sports, toys, and video games. For more information, visit NPD.com.
Follow us on Twitter: @NPDgroup.
Media
Contact:
Erick
Bauer
The
NPD Group
647-723-7736 |
