Nearly half of U.S. consumers are eating out less frequently now than they were just six months ago due to the ailing economy, according to a recent survey from the Farmington Hills, Mich., market research firm Morpace Omnibus.
“By last September, more than one-third of consumers had reduced restaurant dining, but now it’s almost half the population,” said Kirsten Denyes, VP of Morpace Retail Services. “It indicates more weakness for the restaurant industry.”
According to the survey, in which participants were asked whether they were eating at various restaurant categories more, less or the same as they were six months ago, upscale restaurants are hurting more than casual, fast-casual and quick-service ones.
“About half the patrons of upscale restaurants like Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris and mid-scale venues like P.F. Chang’s and California Pizza Kitchen are dining there less now than six months ago,” Denyes said.
“The pullback is slightly less severe at fast-casual restaurants such as Panera Bread, Pizza Hut and Qdoba and at casual restaurants like Applebee’s, Olive Garden and Chili’s,” she added. “Quick-service chains such as McDonald’s, KFC and Taco Bell are declining the least, although even at this least expensive level one-third of customers are eating less often.”
The sour economy is also hurting small seafood chains such as Charleston Crab House in South Carolina.
“In Charleston, tourism [is] the No. one [industry]. Tourism is down 15 percent, and we’ve experienced a 12 percent drop in our [restaurant] sales from September through January,” said John Keener, founder and CEO of Charleston Crab House.
In spite of the bad news, Keener remains cautiously optimistic about the economy recovering.
“We’ve been getting reports of a forecasted increase in tourism in March and April, so maybe we’ve hit bottom and might be coming back up,” he said. “Advanced ticket sales have increased for both the Food and Wine Festival in March and the Southeastern Wildlife Expo in February, which draws 40,000 to 50,000 tourists to Charleston.
“On another positive note,” added Keener, “our shrimp prices and crab leg prices have decreased [and] commodity prices like oil have gone down.”
