News

The money's moving: Study finds $1.3B shift from dine-in to delivery

November 28, 2018

Nearly 1.3 billion dollars has shifted from in-restaurant spending to food delivery spending, according to a Planday U.K.-based survey that found a substantial 20 percent of millennials today say they go out to eat less now due to food delivery services. 

The survey, which YouGov conducted this past October with just over 2,000 people, also found that millennials are overwhelmingly "okay" with robotic food service and think vegan menus are the next big thing in eating out, or ordering in, as the case may be.

According to a news release, the survey found: 
•    52 percent of millennials would eat at an automated restaurant. 
•    Millennials say vegan restaurants will draw the most demand through 2020. 

"This survey gives us insight into the complex and changing consumer expectations, from younger to older diners, contributing to this challenging environment.," Planday Chief Commercial Officer 
John Coldicutt, said in a news release about the study.

"We know from our own customer base that things are only likely to get less predictable as just under two thirds (63 percent) of our customers who are restaurant managers expect the percentage of food orders from online delivery services to increase over the next year. In order to stay competitive and profitable, restaurants need to listen to changing consumer preferences and use the available technologies to cater to an increasingly unpredictable environment."

The poll also determined there are three main forces driving the restaurant market today through the power of the millennial dollar. Those include: 

A more spontaneous delivery-prone and reservation-averse diner

While just 9 percent of older Gen X consumers say they dine out less and order in more now, a full one-fifth of millennial-aged diners report that same shift. Likewise, just 9 percent of millennials report being likely to reserve restaurant tables and they also spend less than Gen X on meals out — about 14 percent less, according to the study. 

Younger diners are tech-smitten

Most millennial diners are A-OK with robots doing the bulk of the restaurant duties, including 71 percent saying robot service is okay, while 52 percent said fully automated ordering and payment are fine, too. Only 39 percent of their Gen X counterparts would go to eat at a restaurant with automated ordering and payment. But, if something is really wrong or really right with a restaurant experience, most millennials still want to tell a human instead of a machine. 

Sustainable, plant-based, healthful gets their guts and wallets

For millennials the future is vegan, with 49 percent saying vegan restaurants that use no animal-derived products on their menus, will be the ones that get the most customers over the next two years. And for millennials traditional fast food or QSR brands are not seen as sustainable and healthful, and only 25 percent of millennials said such concepts would be in highest demand over that same period. Finally, when it comes to top sustainable practices, nearly half of all those polled thought reduced food waste was the top priority.