Restaurant Transactions for Thanksgiving Week Declined by 7%

December 11, 2019 — Restaurant transactions for Thanksgiving week, the week ending December 1, were down 7% compared to same week last year (Thanksgiving was a week earlier in 2018), reports The NPD Group. Restaurant transactions declined by 8% for both the casual dining and quick service restaurant segments during Thanksgiving week, according to CREST Performance Alerts, which provides a rapid weekly view of chain-specific transactions and share trends for 73 quick service, fast casual, midscale, and casual dining chains.

Midscale/family dining restaurants, which offer sit down breakfasts, pies, and other desserts, realized an 18% increase in transactions during Thanksgiving week compared to same period year ago. Restaurant transactions for the week prior to Thanksgiving, the week ending November 24, were up 9%. Total restaurant transactions for the month of November were up 1%, quick service and midscale/family dining were also up 1%, and casual dining transactions declined by 5%, reports NPD.

“In addition to many restaurants being closed on the holiday, the majority of consumers eat their Thanksgiving dinner in their or someone else’s home,” says David Portalatin, NPD food industry advisor and author of Eating Patterns in America. “Over the Black Friday weekend, when the assumption may be that people are out shopping and need to eat, consumers don’t visit restaurants because they may have too many leftovers from Thanksgiving, they’re shopping online, or they just want to get to the stores, buy what they want, and get back home.”

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