The pandemic moved many meal occasions to the home, and retail inflation has kept many of them there.
Research from Technomic conducted in the first quarter of 2022 suggests that overall restaurant patronage frequency has dropped, with consumers from homes with annual incomes of $50,000 to $100,000 indicating a four percentage-point drop in how often they order from restaurants more than once a week. The decrease is greater for this middle-income group than it is for both higher-income and lower-income demographics, although all groups have seen the number of regular restaurant visits drop in during the first quarter of 2022. The broad-based demand softening points toward consumers limiting their overall restaurant dining occasions.