Food & Beverage

Restaurant recovery a slow go in Q2 2021

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August 13, 2021

Consumer spend at restaurants rose 32% in the April-May-June 2021 quarter, compared to the same quarter last year, and flat compared to the same quarter in 2019.

That's according to The NPD Group, a research firm that analyzed restaurant industry data for the second quarter of 2021, a period during which state and local governments lifted pandemic restrictions, restaurants reopened, people got vaccinated, and consumers used restaurants more than they did throughout the pandemic.

Restaurant visits, dining in or off-premises, increased 22% in the quarter compared to the same quarter last year and were down 7% compared to the second quarter of 2019, according to NPD.

Quick service restaurants, representing 81% of restaurant visits in the U.S., realized a gain of 15% in visits in the second quarter compared to a year ago and a 5% decline compared to the second quarter of 2019.

Throughout the pandemic, QSR restaurants, particularly chains, benefited from well-established off-premises services, like carry-out, drive-thru, and delivery.

During the second quarter in 2020, which covered the height of the pandemic lockdowns and restaurant dine-in restrictions, QSR off-premises orders increased by 9% over the same quarter in 2019, driven by solid growth in drive-thru and delivery orders.

In the 2021 second quarter, off-premises grew by 5% compared to a year ago, driven by gains in carry-out and delivery orders.

Full service restaurants, with most business reliant on dine-in visits, bore the brunt of the COVID dine-in restrictions.

At the start of the second quarter this year, more areas of the country eased or lifted dine-in restrictions, and by the end of June, most states reopened. Total FSR visits, dine-in and off-premises, increased by 60% in the second quarter over a year ago and were down 17% compared to second quarter 2019.

Dine-in, or on-premises, visits to FSRs increased by 214% in the quarter compared to a year ago when they declined by 80%.

Despite the gains, FSR dine-in visits are down 37% from the second quarter of 2019. With dining rooms opening in the quarter, off-premises FSR visits were down 9% compared to an 83% gain in the same quarter in 2020.

"The U.S. restaurant recovery is underway, but it will take time for it to return to pre-pandemic levels fully," David Portalatin, NPD food industry advisor and author of Eating Patterns in America, said in the release. "Commercial restaurants overall remain below 2019 traffic levels."