CHICAGO – For the first
time in four years, adult-only restaurant visits increased in 2012, but visits
that included children remained flat for the second consecutive year, according
to The NPD Group. Adult-only visits increased by 1% as did total restaurant
traffic for the year ending December 2012, reports NPD Foodservice Market
Research.
“Our forecast is for
sluggish restaurant demand over the next decade, which means operators will
battle for market share. Getting families with their children back into
restaurants is certainly one of the ways in which they can grow revenue and
increase share,” said Bonnie Riggs, NPD restaurant industry analyst, in a press
release.
The two years of
non-growth in restaurant visits with children, or what is called “parties with
kids” in industry vernacular, followed three years of recession-related visit
declines. The lack of growth in the number of visits by parties with kids is
among the contributors to the sluggishness in restaurant-industry traffic.
However, NPD sees this as
an opportunity for restaurant operators to increase share. Parties with kids
contributed $84 billion and 15 billion visits to the industry in 2012, reports
NPD’s CREST. For example, in the hamburger category alone, parties with kids
account for $22 billion and 5 billion visits.
“We continually hear from
families with kids that it’s too expensive to eat out. Restaurant operators
must understand their financial situation and reflect it in pricing of kids’
menu items and kids’ meals,” said Riggs.