If you gave your bank account a look right now, what percentage of it would you say was spent on restaurants? For someone in the restaurant industry, the number likely wouldn't surprise them…but for those who aren't, the number might be a surprise and show that folks have been eating out a lot more than they used to. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the amount of money spent on food “away from home” (vs. at home) has risen 94% since 2003. Despite increasing food and energy prices and tighter budgets, U.S. consumers continue to actively support local restaurants with 58% stating that they are eating restaurant food more often this year compared to 2021. Recognizing financial hardships restaurants have endured, the majority of consumers stated that they are ok with restaurants raising menu prices—though value is top of mind as consumers keep a watchful eye on economic trends. According to two nationwide, anonymous surveys by Popmenu, a leading innovator in digital marketing and ordering technology that works with over 10,000 independent restaurants and hospitality groups, restaurant meals remain an important part of consumer budgets. When Popmenu asked 1,000 consumers who increased their restaurant spend this year why they were doing so, they responded as follows: 61% – I like the convenience. 43% – I want to support local restaurants. 36% – Grocery prices are so high, it’s more cost-effective to order from restaurants. 28% – I don’t have time to cook. Is takeout or delivery, therefore, slowing down? No. While fears around the pandemic continue to subside—resulting in a much-appreciated return to restaurant dining rooms— takeout and delivery remain a way of life. In fact, 69% of consumers order takeout or delivery as often or more often than they did last year. The No. 1 cuisine consumers say they will always order from restaurants vs. cooking at home? Mexican, followed by seafood and sushi. Consumers report understanding the significant challenges restaurants are facing and say they are willing to throw in a little extra to help restaurants out. They also welcome new technologies restaurants have implemented to serve guests. Further results: 68% of consumers are ok with restaurants raising menu prices. 51% are ok with restaurants decreasing portion sizes. 45% are ok with restaurants adding a temporary inflation fee. 71% say restaurant technology, both online and on-premise, makes their guest experience better. Brendan Sweeney, CEO and Co-founder of Popmenu says, “You can almost hear the rallying cry for restaurants as consumers do their part to support their neighborhood favorites in a precarious time. While mindful of their own household economics, 61% of consumers said they would pay more to keep restaurants open if a recession hits in 2022 or next year. That says a lot about how important restaurants are to their local communities and how much people rely on and empathize with them.”

For all of the setbacks and trials of COVID-19, in the end, the quick-service restaurant customer may be the true winner. “The customer has spoken,” says Papa John’s CEO Rob Lynch. “They want to get food brought to them or get food that is ultra-convenient.” Just look at breakfast. It’s estimated that there could be as many as 25 million people working from home on a full or part-time basis. So far, the trend has pushed breakfast back in the day as commuter routines shift—realities seen at Starbucks, Dunkin’, and others. Out of the gate, Dunkin’ Donuts said business in the 6 to 9 a.m. stretch dropped; but 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. picked up. David Portalatin, food industry adviser at The NPD Group and author of Eating Patterns in America, says the “late-morning snack occasion” is something that showed up frequently pre-virus and is only going to gain steam. For example, guests who start their day at home with a cup of coffee and then hit the drive-thru later for a breakfast sandwich. Or perhaps they’re one of the 7 percent or so of consumers (and growing, Portalatin says) actively leaping on the intermittent fasting trend. “We’re even seeing nontraditional breakfast foods in things like salty snacks, or trail mix, or a protein shake or something like that emerge as things that consumers are looking for a little later in the morning,” he says. “It’s just the structure of the day—the share of breakfast we attribute to an away-from-home occasion may be more or less permanently altered,” according to Portalatin. Other research data reflects pattern shifts as well. People are no longer isolated to a single hour to grab lunch or stuck thinking about dinner on their drive home from the office. More navigations are taking place between 1 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m., and quick-serves are seeing more consistent traffic throughout the day. Coffee shops, for example, are seeing steady customers between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., rather than previously being the busiest between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. Since these trends are not expected to revert next year, and they may never snapback, the challenge will be to target opportunities to reach and serve these “always on” drivers.

In case you didn’t already know, there are tons of waterfront spots in California worthy of an alfresco meal. But what about those restaurants where you can chow down with your toes in the sand? Hard to believe that there are places where you can sit waterside enjoying a cold beverage, watch the sun setting in the distance, all while your toes are digging in the white, quartz-riddled beach. They do exist. On The Alley on the Santa Barbara Harbor has a great take out menu that provides just that opportunity. Order up a great to go meal, stroll to the beach, plant your toes in the sand and prepare for the hours to slip by taking in the sea breezes and sunshine. Great for glorious, languid days and creating sun-tinted “Wish You Were Here” postcard moments, if you’re seeking a waterfront no-frills shack, On the Alley has you covered. The only thing better than eating delicious, fresh seafood, is doing so in an amazing atmosphere. Since On the Alley is located right on the dock, you will have a very genuine feeling; you can smell the ocean and feel the warm breeze as your eat your meal. This one-of-a-kind seafood experience is hard to beat simply because of its “no frills”, “come as you are” atmosphere, amazing seafood, and location. Here’s some feedback from recent guests: “On The Alley IS a gem. And the setting is perfect. Right there where all the boats come in with the fresh fish for all the SB Restaurants. Seabreeze in your hair, seagulls singing to you, and the beautiful sunny days that are typical for our slice-of-paradise.” “May be my favorite spot so far. The Baja fish taco was outstanding. Coupled with the tots and a cold beer. Sitting outside in the cool air overlooking the boats and mountains made this spot extra spectacular.” “Amazing breakfast burger and morning walk! Good way to start a day in Santa Barbara.” “Probably the best fish tacos in Santa Barbara.” “Run or walk to On The Alley for quality, fresh food, near the water!” And remember…if you go to a seafood restaurant that is located right on the dock, the fish, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and other menu items are likely caught by local fisherman daily, so you know that your tastebuds are going to light up when you eat them.

Once upon a time in the not so distant past, most considered ordering food via facial recognition either a gimmick that was unrealistic or just plain creepy. But, times have changed and the restaurant industry must look to new tools and technologies to provide the premium service that keeps customers coming back through the door. Biometric technology, such as facial recognition, offers this exact benefit. Today’s consumers value personalized experiences with their favorite restaurants. Everyone wants the “VIP treatment”...especially regulars. Facial recognition programs are making it easier for restaurants to do this, even when short staffed. VIP’s who have enrolled in the loyalty program and opted-in to using facial recognition can instantly be recognized upon entering the restaurant. In fact, certain integrations allow a customer’s profile to instantaneously pop up on a FOH computer or handheld device. Employees can use the technology to greet customers by name, ask how they’ve been since their last visit a few weeks ago, and offer to get their usual order started. Once it comes time for them to pay, a rewards profile is automatically loaded — eliminating the need for an app or loyalty card — and any discounts a customer is eligible for are automatically added to the bill. They can easily pay on their phone without having to wait in line at a cash register or wait for the bill. Soon, facial recognition will help operators understand how customers truly feel about their food and the service by anonymizing and aggregating their emotional responses from the moment they sit down to eat to the time they stand-up to leave. If a restaurant is testing a new dish, for example, facial recognition can be used to assess the customers reactions to each bite and adjust their menu, increasing the likelihood of customers coming back for more. The market for facial recognition access control technology is growing rapidly, but so are the privacy concerns that come with it. Data—who sees it, where it’s stored—is definitely one of the challenges that has to be addressed in order for facial recognition to become a more widely used way of ordering. Surprisingly, however, so far it doesn’t appear to be raising too many concerns for businesses.

After supplying the nation’s restaurants and groceries with millions of plant-based, meat-free burgers, nuggets, meatballs and more, Impossible Foods is branching out with a restaurant of its own. The new initiative, called the Impossible Food Shop, will offer menu items developed by Impossible Foods’ head of culinary operations, chef J. Michael Melton. They will be prepared in the kitchens of Dog Haus restaurants, which were among the first in the nation to put the plant-based products on their permanent menu in 2018. Nearly 40 Dog Haus restaurants — the Fremont, Oakland and San Francisco locations, plus 16 locations in Southern California — became Impossible Food Shops in December. The inaugural menu will showcase six Impossible recipes, and customers in the future will get the opportunity to try new Impossible products. The Impossible Shop is part of the group's expansion into new products, grocery stores, and restaurants in order to help expand alternative meats and plant-based foods. According to research, its newest product – Impossible Chicken Nuggets made from plants – marks a major milestone in consumers’ preference for plant-based products. In a blind taste test of Impossible Chicken Nuggets for restaurants, conducted in Irving, Texas among 201 meat-eating consumers, seven out of 10 consumers preferred the Impossible Chicken Nuggets to animal-based chicken nuggets from a leading brand. The product also scored higher in “liking” in every category, including flavor, texture, and overall appearance. “We are tremendously excited about our Impossible Nuggets. But this launch isn’t really about nuggets; it’s about the historic inflection point we’ve reached. For the first time, consumers unquestionably prefer meat made from plants instead of meat from an iconic animal,” said Pat Brown, founder and CEO of Impossible Foods. Longtime Impossible Foods customers that included Fatburger, Bay Area-based Gott’s Roadside and select Dog Haus locations nationwide brought the product to their menus in December. Leading retailers including Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, Safeway, ShopRite, Giant Stores, Gelsons and others will debut Impossible Chicken Nuggets for home chefs in the frozen aisle. Restaurants nationwide can now order Impossible Chicken Nuggets for their menus from major foodservice distributors. The Impossible Chicken Nuggets for restaurants will vary slightly from Impossible Chicken Nuggets for home chefs in order to best accommodate commercial deep fryers.

Somewhere in Santa Monica, a human orders a salad, a latte and a donut for delivery from Alfalfa, a sunny Ocean Park cafe. The order pops up in the kitchen and the staff prepares the food. Instead of handing it to a driver, an employee walks to a boxy Coco delivery robot parked outside the front door and places the order inside the rectangular compartment that comprises the bot's "torso." The little machine, with its cheerful orange and pink exterior and its twin front-facing headlights, rolls out of the shop and down the sidewalk like a first-gen Wall-E. It trundles past joggers, shoppers and store owners, carrying food but also a whiff of something else — the future. In the last two to three years, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, food delivery has exploded in popularity. Where many people saw convenience and accessibility, Coco co-founder and CEO Zach Rash saw a problem. Outside of the densest urban areas, such as New York and San Francisco, most food delivery is done by people driving vehicles. "We've seen that the future is going to be things being delivered, and that doesn't look so good for the future, if you're doing it the way it's done today," Rash says. "One of the best advantages of this platform is that we can take more cars off the road... We're moving a couple pounds of food a mile or two, so it doesn't make sense to do that with a 4,000-pound, gas-powered car all day, every day across the whole city.” Because these delivery bots weigh only 80 pounds and are electric, and because Coco doesn't need to advertise to consumers the way delivery apps do, Rash says the company can pass the lower overhead on to merchants. That generally means lower per-delivery fees for Coco's clients. Dan Londono, one of Alfalfa’s three founders, says they prefer Coco's deliveries. They've found that their food, particularly their cold salads and drinks, travels well in the bots. As a bonus, "The robots themselves actually attract attention and lead to folks wanting to order to test out the robots," Londono says. Unlike certain other tech startups that launched in Santa Monica without community approval, Coco has been meeting with community groups to introduce their bots. Alfalfa hasn't experienced any vandalism or harassment of its signature tech. Instead, Londono says, when bots have occasionally tipped over, people have picked them up and sent them on their way! For Alfalfa, Coco's delivery robots have been an unqualified success. But...whither the delivery driver?

As restaurants in Georgia welcomed diners back on Monday, Bo Peabody, a member of the Georgia Restaurant Association called Georgia “a dress rehearsal for the entire country. If this goes well, I think most restaurants in Atlanta will be open by the middle of May. If it doesn’t, then I think the whole country will be set back by a month or two. That’s the risk.” For those that reopened, it was not life as normal. Restaurants are now required to adhere to a set of 39 guidelines laid out by the state government that includes keeping a log with every customer’s first and last name and contact phone number that must be maintained by the restaurant and kept for 30 days in case it’s needed for contact tracing. All employees must wear fabric face masks and customers are encouraged to wear them as well, unless they are eating. At the Waffle House chain restaurants, and more than twelve other restaurants in the Atlanta metro area, the diners who ventured out did so with caution. At the Savannah Waffle House, regular customer Corey Brooks ordered a waffle and pork chops and noted how quiet the normally bustling restaurant was. He is still working from home and still thinks it’s too soon to return to the office or get a haircut. “This would be the only restaurant I would come and sit in,” Brooks said. “I know the people here.” While most of the restaurants reported that the customers who did come in thanked them for being open...they said it was, unfortunately, really slow. Many eateries, on the other hand, have opted to remain closed amid safety concerns and community backlash. “I, as a chef and restaurateur, refuse to have the people I employ and work with used as sacrificial lambs for an economic uptick that is far from guaranteed anyway,” writes Hugh Acheson, chef and owner of several restaurants in Georgia, in the Washington Post. While Hugh Acheson, chef-owner of Five & Ten in Athens and Empire State South and By George in Atlanta, also voiced his opposition in a tweet: “I am the leader of my restaurants. I will say when we open. It will be when I feel it is safe for those I employ, my family and my customers. No one tells me when to open. Period. And not Monday.” And Bob Amick, founder and CEO of Concentrics restaurant group that operates three restaurants in Atlanta said, “The big question is, when will people get over their fear? When will they feel it’s safe enough to dine out?” Many operators agree that the customers remain a wild card in the reopening scenario. There’s no doubt that people are anxious to go out to eat, but while you can control the environment and your employees, “You can’t control what customers do,” says McCarthy of Miller Union. “One customer can sneeze because of an allergy, and you’ll create a riot in the restaurant.” He cites LA County’s decision to flag restaurants with COVID-19 cases. “It could be the customer’s fault, but that would mean the death of your restaurant.” So...although many Georgia operators are starting to feel pressured to reopen, there are many experienced voices in the industry advising against opening prematurely. If you don’t reopen properly, it can permanently damage your business. Their advice: There is importance in being second and learning from other’s mistakes.

The coronavirus crisis is forcing all consumers to adopt new habits, and poll data from a recent survey by AMC Global, a market research firm, indicates that some of those behaviors may have long-lasting impacts for restaurants well after the current COVID-19 threat has passed. According to this recent survey, 45% of consumers said that they are currently eating less fast food than they normally would, and they expect to be much less reliant on takeout after the pandemic is over. At the same time, 33% of the consumers polled reported that they are baking more than they typically had, and 32% said that they also plan to make more home-cooked meals after the virus passes. While social distancing rules have definitely forced people to spend more time in their homes...and in their kitchens, many reputable sources predict that people will remain as busy and as lazy as ever once the pandemic is over. They do not foresee home cooking having a radical and lasting resurgence. Yelp’s Coronavirus Impact Report found that after the pandemic passes, many consumers actually plan to place a greater focus on eating local, with 38% of consumers reporting that they will support local businesses more in the future. There’s no doubt that millions of young people who have been eating out since the day they left high school will become more comfortable in the kitchen and will have the tools and ingredients to whip something up when they next hear a rumble in their stomach. But...there are clearly everyday things people miss, took for granted, and can't wait to have back after the coronavirus. So, restaurateurs take heart, according to a report from ABC News, “As everyone resorts to cooking at home or ordering takeout, the idea of sitting down for a meal, prepared by chefs in a professional kitchen sounds like a dream!”