Pandemic Accelerated Americans’ Move Away From Cash
Pandemic drove a major shift toward credit and debit cards. Consumers are a lot less likely to use cash now than they were before the pandemic. But they won’t get rid of it entirely. The share of payments made with cash has fallen precipitously since 2019, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, an annual examination of the way Americans are paying for everything from regular bills to visits to fast-food restaurants. In 2019, for instance, 26% of payments were in cash. By 2020 that had fallen to 19%, unsurprising given the limited movement of consumers into retailers and restaurants. Yet cash payments have continued to decline in the past couple of years. n 2023, for instance, cash payments had fallen to 16%. By contrast, payments made with credit cards have soared, jumping from 24% in 2019 to 27% in 2020. By last year, nearly a third, 32%, of all payments were with a credit card. And nearly two-thirds, 62%, were with either a debit or a credit card.
As consumers returned to in-person visits to restaurants, retailers, gas stations and other companies, they frequently replaced cash with credit or debit cards. At each of these retailers, the number of transactions per person, per month have returned or exceeded pre-pandemic levels. But use of cash for these transactions remains well below those levels, according to the report…
How Customers’ Dining Preferences and Spending Habits are Shifting in 2024
Survey reveals how consumers are using restaurants this year. Dining out triumphs over takeout in 2024, driven by consumers seeking atmosphere and socialization along with a restaurant meal. That’s according to the recent Diner Dispatch survey conducted by foodservice distributor US Foods. This year, 55% of customers prefer dining at restaurants over ordering takeout or delivery, versus 43% in 2023. Diners are also spending more; the average monthly spend is $191 in 2024 compared to $166 in 2023. But inflation and jacked-up menu prices no doubt contributed to that surge. What is more surprising is that women are now spending more on dining out than men: 33% more on average per month. In 2023, male diners outspent females by 19%. While fast-casual restaurants are outperforming other sectors in the industry, the survey finds that casual dining continues to be the most popular restaurant choice when dining out, climbing up to 69% in 2024 from 63% in 2023. US Foods concludes that the in-restaurant customer experience continues to play a key role in driving profitability and customer loyalty. And customers of all ages prefer print menus over the QR codes that rose in popularity during the pandemic: 90% versus 74% year-over-year. Even Gen Z has shifted its opinion, with 90% in favor of print compared to only 69% in 2023. To collect the data, Rosemont, Illinois-based US Foods surveyed more than 1,005 people this past April, a sample which reflects the demographic makeup of the general American population…
Bielat Santore & Company – Restaurant Industry Alert
BIELAT SANTORE & COMPANY CLOSES PERKINS-IHOP DEAL
The long-time Perkins Restaurant, located at 113 Route 9, Forked River (Lacey Township), Ocean County, New Jersey has been sold according to Richard Santore of Bielat Santore & Company, Allenhurst, Monmouth County, New Jersey, the broker for the transaction. The location will be transformed into an IHOP Restaurant following remodeling and retooling. “This is the second Perkins Restaurant in New Jersey I have sold to the same multi-unit IHOP franchisee. The first was in Woodbridge, New Jersey,” continues Santore. Bielat Santore & Company specializes in the sale of all hospitality-type properties, which include but are not limited to, restaurants, catering complexes, taverns, golf courses, marinas, and hotels. Most of the firm’s transactions include real estate, as did this sale.
Contact Richard Santore 732.531.4200 for additional information.
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Restaurant Trends to Look For in 2025
A few early observations of what 2025 could bring to the hospitality industry. History will show that COVID was the line of demarcation for the hospitality industry in the 21st century. In almost every conversation I have with other industry professionals, someone will say “before COVID….” or “since COVID….” As a matter of fact, in many of my articles I make the same comparison. Since COVID, technology in the restaurant industry has moved at lightning speed. I believe that the changes we have seen would have been years in the making if we had not gone through a pandemic. Environmental and health concerns are driving more restaurants to move on from vegetarian dishes and to vegan. In 2025, more plant-based menu items will be appearing at an incredible rate of speed as well. Currently, 50 percent of restaurants, including sit-down and fast-food establishments, offer plant-based options, and this is only expected to grow. Controlling food waste is a hot topic in the industry as well. This has become more important since the substantial increase in employee wages post-COVID. I’ll make this connection for you later in this article. Door Dash, Uber Eats and other third-party delivery services will continue to expand. What started as a way for people to get restaurant food without going to a restaurant during COVID has now morphed into a convenient necessity for many consumers. It’s also become a boost to top-line sales. From the consultant’s perspective, our restaurant designs have changed substantially due to these services. We now design in specific pick-up areas for these third-party delivery systems. You will soon see advances that include voice commands and facial recognition…
How Interpersonal Engagement Fuels Modern Restaurant Success
Spoiler alert: It’s not hard skills. Restaurant operators have long grappled with the question, “Should I hire for soft or hard skills?” and for good reason. In an industry where technical precision is essential, seamless service depends on more than just executing tasks. After nearly 30 years of supporting thousands of restaurant operators and HR leaders, first as the Director of HR for Potbelly Sandwich Works and now as the CEO of Restaurant HR Group, I’ve seen firsthand what truly makes a restaurant rise to the top. That doesn’t mean you should ignore technical skills completely. After all, no one wants a chef who can’t cook or a cashier who struggles with point-of-sale systems. Still, the heartbeat of a thriving restaurant is its people. And what makes those people, well, people? The individual soft skills they bring to the table. The culmination of those traits, from empathy and leadership to creativity and problem-solving, gives your culture personality and a unique life of its own, which keeps customers feeling valued and employees engaged—and them all coming back for more. Look at Chick-fil-A or In-N-Out Burger, often regarded as the restaurant gold standard. That’s not because they have the best sandwiches (though debatable!) or the fastest drive-thru lanes, but because their people make the difference. Both brands take a people-centric approach, intentionally embedding soft skills like communication, teamwork, and resilience into hiring, training, and management practices. You even catch glimpses of this mindset in Chick-fil-A’s commercials, where teammates go above and beyond expectations to care for customers. If you knew nothing about their food and walked into one of these establishments, what would stand out is your interactions with the people…
Can the Restaurant Lawfully Deduct Credit Card Fees From an Employee’s Tips?
Currently, under federal law, employers are. As restaurant owners and managers are well aware, accepting credit card payments from customers involves costs for the restaurant, including the credit card companies charging service fees for the use of their cards. These service fees, also known as transaction fees or interchange fees, are a standard part of processing customer payments. However, when it comes to the processing of employees’ tips on those same credit cards, there is an ongoing debate about who should absorb these credit card fees – the restaurant or the worker? The answer to this question varies significantly depending on what state your restaurant is located in. Currently, under federal law, employers are in fact permitted to deduct credit card transaction fees from an employee’s tips, when the tip is paid to the employee via a credit card transaction. There are restrictions to this practice, however. For example, an employer may not deduct in a manner that reduces an employee’s pay below minimum wage. Further, an employer may not deduct more than the value of the credit card transaction fee. In other words, if a credit card company charges a fee of 2% for any credit card transaction at a restaurant, federal law allows the restaurant to provide the employee 98% of the credit card tips and stay compliant with federal law. Though federal law allows this practice, some states have passed prohibitions on this practice, e.g., California, Maine, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, making it unlawful for an employer to take deductions from an employee’s tips for credit card transaction fees. The group of states that prohibit this practice of tip deduction for transaction fees is growing. Recently, in August 2024, Minnesota joined the list of states that prohibit any deduction of interchange fees from employees’ tips. In contrast, there are states that protect the employer’s ability to make tip deductions for the credit card transaction fees…
The Newest Ways Convenience Stores Are Trying to Out-Restaurant Restaurants
C-stores are trying to steal more dollars from restaurants. If not for the occasional booth hawking car wash equipment, tobacco products or gas pumps at this week’s NACS Show (the convenience-store industry’s biggest annual trade show), one might be excused for occasionally believing they were instead strolling the aisles of the National Restaurant Association Show. Chefs dotting the 430,000 square feet of exhibit space at the Las Vegas Convention Center served birria steak fajita street tacos, fresh-baked French pastries, customizable pizzas, crispy fried chicken and so much more. NACS Show attendees washed the fare down with dirty sodas, nitro cold brew, “functional” juices and other beverages that would be at home in any coffee shop or fast-casual restaurant chain. As cash-strapped diners pull back on restaurant visits, convenience stores see nothing but opportunity in foodservice. And many c-store suppliers and distributors are meeting the moment, creating what are essentially plug-and-play restaurant concepts that can be dropped in the middle of a gas station. Westlake, Texas-based foodservice distributor Core-Mark, which is owned by Performance Food Group, for example, offers five turnkey programs for convenience stores: Contigo Taqueria, Perfectly Southern Fresh Fried Chicken, The Red Seal Pizzeria, Tru-Q BBQ and Deli 55. The foodservice operations vary by complexity, depending on the needs (and labor challenges) of c-store operators, said Sandra D’Asaro, Core-Mark’s senior vice president of strategy and excellence. The company is testing an Asian concept, too, D’Asaro added. “Customers today, they do want bold profiles, they want unique flavors,” she said. “We think the biggest thing that can help drive trips is going to be food and we want to capture that trip…”
Did You Know?
Seven tips to help restaurant owners avoid common pitfalls and grow. Nearly half of restaurants fail in their fifth year of business. My long and largely positive journey in the industry hasn’t been without challenges. That’s part of the price of doing business – especially when you own multiple restaurants. But if you learn from failures and misfortunes as we have, those experiences can spur you to even more success. My first KFC franchise burned to the ground. The third KFC we opened and a second TGI Fridays we operated both failed. But my message is turning obstacles into opportunities, and that’s what we did. And you can do the same. During our 40-plus years in the industry, many issues have come up, and here are some key things I learned as we developed a resilient, consistent mindset and strategies leading to growth and sustainability…
Employee Tip
The impact of tech innovation on restaurant company culture. Just over 10 years ago, the only tech in a restaurant was a POS system. Restaurants now use over 15 software vendors to run their business. They say necessity is the mother of invention. And in a fast-paced developing world, it is necessary to have vision of not only the current needs, but how to meet the growing demands of the future. Living in the tech-revolution, it makes sense that the restaurant industry stays in step by using technology to fill the gaps, increase productivity and improve employee and customer experiences by their use…
