Fast-Food Customers Are Giving Up on Dining In
Covid-19 pandemic. Across U.S. fast-food chains, diners ate 14% of orders at a restaurant in the first five months of this year, less than 21% before the pandemic, data from market-research firm Circana show.
In June, diners ate 14% of their fast-food orders in the restaurant’s dining room, compared with 22% in 2015, Circana said. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated a shift toward to-go that was already under way. Owners serving the bulk of their orders to-go found that they were more profitable and efficient to run, needing less maintenance work and staff.
Big companies started speeding up investments in drive-throughs and online ordering. “You don’t necessarily need the big dining rooms that you needed in our traditional restaurants," McDonald’s Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski said during an investor call in July. McDonald’s and other chains are developing new restaurants centered around drive-throughs and carryout, with very little or no dine-in option.
During a recent lunch period at a McDonald’s in Oak Brook, Ill., a group of teens picked up cold McCafe drinks but didn’t stay, while office workers and others bought sacks to go. Over one 10-minute stretch, 10 cars placed orders via the restaurant’s two drive-through lanes, while two people went inside. Still, fast-food restaurants are reluctant to give up on the dining room.
Major chains want their restaurants to look modern, inviting and fresh. McDonald’s, for instance, pledged to spend billions of dollars to help U.S. franchisees pay for digital kiosks, modern furnishings and other improvements beginning in 2017.
The chain now expects U.S. owners to renovate dining rooms every 10 years. Franchisees said they often pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to install new
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