A recent study of 4,600 consumers, conducted by MarketForce, has indicated some new insight into today’s restaurant dining trends. First off, the good news is that consumer confidence with regards to eating out is way up! And even more notable is the fact that consumers are very concerend with eating healthy. Let’s take a look at the numbers and facts:
1) 1 in 4 consumers surveyed said they would eat out more during the summer months – this is up from a mere 5 percent when surveyed in December 2009!
2) When it came to organic ingredients used by restaurants, 60 percent said this was somewhat important and 79 percent of those polled found locally grown ingredients to be somewhat to extremely important for their meals.
3) Are nutrition facts like calorie counts important to diners? Absolutely! Actually 45 percent of surveyed stated it was somewhat important whereas 42 percent said this was extremely important.
4) How important are social media like online reviews when choosing a restaurant? Nearly half of those respondents had consulted an online review in the past 30 days and 13 percent went on to post their own review.
How will this recent study impact your restaurant management decisions?