surveyed U.S. consumers at the end of 2025<\/a> and found that \u201cthe U.S. restaurant sector may be reaching a turning point. \u2026 growth is plateauing as persistent inflation, tariffs, and economic uncertainty are forcing diners to rethink the value of every restaurant visit.\u201d<\/p>\nSign up for the Food & Drink newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n
THANK YOU!<\/p>\n
You’re all set.<\/p>\n
CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Cutting back and then some<\/p>\n
Two things stood out in the survey:<\/p>\n
First, among diners planning to cut back, 52% said they would try to cut their bill by as much as one-half.
\nMore than half of those who were cutting back said they would dine out less \u2014 as much as twice a week less.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition, the reasons for cutbacks were simple and straightforward: <\/p>\n
Almost 60% said food quality was disappointing and almost that many said portion sizes were too small.<\/p>\n
More specifically, half said they would start \u201cclipping coupons\u201d \u2013 look for\u00a0promos and discounts to reduce spending and almost as many said they would order less food. Perhaps the most surprising find? <\/p>\n
Even the wealthiest demographics \u2013 high-end Baby Boomers and Gen Xers \u2013 said they planned to cut spending, too, by as much as 17%. By comparison, of those who said they would cut back, only 6% said they planned to reduce spending by less than 10%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013 survey results<\/p>\n
\u201cGen X and baby boomers showed the sharpest pullback in dining and food delivery spending,\u201d the authors of the report explained. \u201cLow- and middle-income households in these groups cut back most across quick-service, sit-down, and delivery categories, signaling that these consumers are most acutely affected by today\u2019s economic pressures.\u201c<\/p>\n
Keeping the regulars happy<\/p>\n
This is something Chickering has been trying to get his clients to understand for the past 18 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing you can\u2019t do is make portions smaller or reduce the quality of food,\u201d he says. \u201cYour customers notice that when you do it. They know what your food tastes like, and they come in to order something that they like. So when you give them less or change the quality, they notice. Why wouldn\u2019t they? And when it\u2019s not as good, then they don\u2019t come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which, he says \u2014\u00a0and the study agrees \u2014 customers are doing. Says Chickering: \u201cEveryone knows about inflation. Everyone knows food costs more. So if they see the price of something on the menu go up $1, but the portion size and the quality is the same, they understand it. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat they don\u2019t understand is why it\u2019s not as good if the operator is cutting costs or quality. It\u2019s all about keeping the guest experience up to their expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n
In which case, they won\u2019t try to cut back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filling up seats in restaurants continues to be a struggle. Alison McLean for the Dallas Observer If you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,918],"class_list":["post-429587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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