5 ways restaurant consumer trends are shifting during coronavirus

1. Cutting back on normal restaurant foods

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In July, consumers continued to be less focused on ordering items they’d typically order at full-service restaurants, such as entrée salads and seafood. Meanwhile, comfort and indulgent foods, such as pizza, burgers and fries, continued to top the list of growing foods, and shakes, carbonated soft drinks and frozen slushies continued to be the top beverages.

“These foods have grown slightly in menu importance since pre-virus,” said NPD’s David Portalatin. “[The changes in eating are] less about what consumers desire and more about the structural environment … because of ease of access.”

2. Letting health and wellness fall by the wayside

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During the pandemic, consumers have gotten away from some of their health and wellness habits, NPD found. For example, in July, 3% of restaurant orders included a side salad, down from 4% a year ago. Similarly, in July, 2.6% of restaurant orders included a non-fried vegetable, down from 3.3% from a year ago.

Additionally, consumers are putting a hold on dieting. American adults’ participation in total diet or nutrition programs dropped to 43.8% in April 2020, down from 48.3% in April 2019, according to NPD’s Health Aspirations and Behavioral Tracking Service. However, participation in specialty diets, such as keto, remained unchanged in April from a year ago.

3. Driving alcoholic beverage sales

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Overall, consumers have increased their consumption of alcohol during the pandemic. And, with regulations relaxed all across the country, more consumers have been getting those alcoholic beverages to go from restaurants.

“Consumers have responded very well to those operators who have started selling beverage alcohol [for carryout],” Portalatin said.

In spite of that, NPD found that consumers are still sourcing the majority of their alcohol from retail outlets. In July, 4% of restaurant orders included beverage alcohol, down from 6% a year ago.

4. Choosing drive-thru

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In the quarter ended June 2020, 42% of all restaurant transactions occurred at a drive-thru, an increase of 26% over year ago.

“The kinds of foods at the drive-thru continue to be popular,” Portalatin said. “We’re seeing operators thinking of new stores designed to optimize digital ordering and carryout … thinking of adding double drive-thrus.”

5. Eating most in the afternoon

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The afternoon snack occasion performed better than any other daypart in the quarter ended June, NPD found. Traffic during the afternoon meal occasion was down just 15% over year ago, while overall industry traffic was down 24%.

“There was a shift toward a little bit of indulgence, a little bit of stress relief,” said Portalatin. “It contributes to the overall fluidity we had been seeing pre-virus.”