TMCnet News
Fourth Unveils First Annual "Truth about Dining Out" Survey Results, Revealing Americans' Eating-out Habits, the Rise of Third-Party Delivery Apps and Favorite Celebrity ChefFourth, the provider of the industry's leading hospitality operations platform, today revealed the findings of its first annual "Truth about Dining Out" survey. With the goal of providing restaurant operators an inside look at how Americans prefer to eat out, the survey, conducted by OnePoll and commissioned by Fourth, shows that quality of service is oftentimes more important than the actual meal among respondents who dine out. The survey results reinforce that engaged staff are happier, provide better service, create loyal customers and increase sales. Americans Love Eating Out With a strong U.S. economy, consumers continue to spend money eating out rather than cooking meals at home. In fact, the survey results showed that more than half (56 percent) of respondents who eat out - which includes eating in restaurants, ordering food to-go and delivery - eat out at least 2-3 times per week. Additionally, 10 percent of Americans said they eat out 4-6 times per week, and 6 percent of consumers cited they eat out every day.
The survey also examined, through multiple-answer questions, why consumers eat out at a restaurant. Forty-seven percent of respondents selected "social, spending time with family and friends" as the main reason, followed by "special occasion" (41 percent), "it's convenient" (40 percent) and "I enjoy the atmosphere" (33 percent). Gordon Ramsay - America's Favorite Celebrity Chef With the ongoing popularity in celebrity cooking shows and competitions, the survey asked respondents to select their favorite celebrity chef. According to the results, Gordon Ramsay took the number one spot with 11 percent of the votes, followed by Anthony Bourdain (7 percent) and Bobby Flay (6 percent).
Customer Loyalty Begins with a Smile As restaurants compete for customers, providing superior service is no longer an added bonus, but expected. More than half of survey respondents (53 percent) cited "good service" as the second most important factor when selecting a restaurant following "food quality" (62 percent), which received the most votes.
To accommodate consumer demand, restaurant operators are turning to third-party delivery services to manage the ordering, payment and delivery of meals. But with so many options available, it can be hard for a restaurant operator to keep up. Understanding this pain point, the survey asked respondents to select which delivery services they used most often. According to the results:
Room for Improvement Although Americans enjoy eating out, there are a number of factors that can contribute to a negative experience. To enable restaurant operators to better understand the expectations of today's restaurant patrons, the survey asked respondents to disclose their biggest frustrations when eating out at a restaurant and having food delivered. The survey results showed:
"Having been in the hospitality industry for more than 30 years, it's interesting to see how quickly customer expectation can be changed," said Simon Bocca, chief operating officer at Fourth. "It's clear from the survey results that customer service and a tight back-of-house operating system are key to optimizing profits. We're excited for the future of the industry and to continue to help restaurant operators enhance guest satisfaction and scale profitably by ensuring they have the right amount of labor and inventory on hand to deliver a great guest experience - every time." To discover more findings from the first annual "Truth about Dining Out" survey:
Survey Methodology: Sponsored by Fourth, the "Truth about Dining Out" survey was conducted by OnePoll, a marketing research company specializing in online quantitative research and polling, between April 16-17, 2019. Feedback was obtained from 1,000 U.S. adults who have eaten out in a restaurant or ordered food to-go. About Fourth: Fourth provides complete, end-to-end restaurant and hospitality management solutions that empower operators to optimize profits, enhance guest satisfaction, improve employee engagement and scale profitably. Developed by hospitality professionals for hospitality professionals, Fourth offers an intuitive, all-in-one hospitality operations technology platform for purchase-to-pay & inventory and workforce management - underpinned by advanced demand forecasting, predictive analytics and collaboration tools - as well as full-service payroll, benefits and HRO services. Founded in 1999, Fourth serves more than 1,200 customers in 60 countries, including many notable hospitality brands in the U.S. including Food First's Brio & Bravo brands, Shari's, Bolay, Pinstripes, Bar Louie, TGI Fridays, Mandarin Oriental, Loews Hotels, Soho House and Le Pain Quotidien. To learn more, visit www.fourth.com or follow on Twitter (News - Alert) @fourthnews.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190515005144/en/ |