Americans want to stay at home to eat, and an increasing number of those meals are purchased from restaurants and foodservice outlets, according to The NPD Group. In the year ending September 2018, dining at a restaurant represented 37 percent of all visits and remained flat compared to the previous year, while restaurant meals consumed in-home accounted for 32 percent of all traffic and increased visits by 2 percent.
Adult, single-person parties with incomes of $100,000 or above are driving the majority of restaurant meals eaten at home, while families and groups of five or more make up 31 percent of foodservice meals eaten at home. In terms of what’s being ordered, the 2 percent increase in eaten-at-home restaurant meals is reflected across restaurant segments, quick-service, and full-service. While dinner still represents nearly half of all at-home occasions for foodservice, morning meals and lunch showed the strongest growth in the period. French fries, burgers, and pizza topped the list of menu items eaten at home from quick-service restaurants, while Chinese/Asian/Indian, rice, and French fries were the top menu items from full-service restaurants eaten at home.