Rather than just an infrequent treat, a restaurant meal has become a daily ritual for many Americans. Almost half the money spent on food in the U.S. is spent at restaurants, a number that's been rising steadily for decades, says the National Restaurant Association (NRA). And on any given day, almost one in two Americans patronizes a restaurant, the group says.
The competitive environment for restaurants is getting tougher as hungry consumers spend more time cooking at home. The economy is the main culprit in the shift, analysts say.
It's still cheaper for Americans to cook most food at home, but the costs of food at the supermarket are actually rising faster than menu prices at restaurants—3.9% in the past year at restaurants, vs. 7.6% food price inflation in the past year, says Hudson Riehle of the National Restaurant Assn.
Still, if the U.S. enters a recession and menu prices continue to rise, analysts don't expect everyone to start eating off the McDonald's Dollar Menu, leaving more expensive chains empty. Customers will seek out not the cheapest food, but the places where they think they're getting the best value, Morningstar analyst Jim Owens says.
The National Restaurant Assn. expects the growth of restaurant spending to slow, but the trade group still expects record sales of $558 billion this year.
