Marketing & Promotions
The Hottest Restaurant & Consumer Dining Trends in 2024
5 min read
Aug 6, 2024
5 min read
Aug 6, 2024
Consumer expectations are always evolving. For restaurant operators, keeping your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in your market is a major competitive advantage. But running a business and keeping up with the latest trends can be challenging.
To support hospitality teams, we gathered insights from 750+ global operators and 3,000+ consumers across the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, and looked at SevenRooms product analytics to uncover the biggest themes in consumer dining habits, marketing, AI and automation.
Here’s what we found, along with key takeaways and tips to jump on the hottest global restaurant trends in 2024.
Over the past several years, consumers across the U.S., U.K. and Australia have been adapting to major cultural shifts — they’re dealing with inflation pressure, the ongoing return to the office, flexible and hybrid work and more.
But despite a period of more conservative discretionary spending, people are now setting aside money for leisure activities and seeking out third places they can enjoy outside of home and work.
When looking at what matters most to diners, the most prevalent themes were:
Among the general populations, consumers most often go to restaurants about three times per month. But younger diners tend to go out more often.
In the U.S., 38% of Millennials and 24% of Gen Zers dine out more than 5X per month, along with 26% of Australian Gen Zers and 15% of U.K. Gen Zers.
Young people have made restaurants part of their weekly routine and actively look for new places to explore on social media, following accounts like @whenwherewhataustin, @_weekendedition and @londoncoffeeshops and checking out places they see on their explore page.
In the U.K., consumers are willing to spend up to £50 per person for a meal out, in the U.S., they’ll spend up to $63 per person, and in Australia, it’s as much as $97. But diners are willing to spend even more for elevated dining experiences like champagne pours or personalized menus.
In some of the major cities across the U.S, U.K. and Australia, here’s what diners are willing to pay above market price for:
Around the world, employees are back to working in the office, and with the increase in remote and flexible work, their schedules are changing.
According to our research, Mondays are one of the most popular days people book restaurant reservations across regions, and globally, searches for “restaurants open on Monday near me” are up 40% year over year.
In response to difficulties getting reservations, diners have figured out that same-day bookings are a good option to get a table if they haven’t made plans far in advance. The most popular day to book a restaurant reservation is day-of, with 53% of diners in Australia, 57% in the U.K. and 66% in the United States booking same-day.
Guests are flexible when it comes to when they dine out, and will make changes to prioritize reservations with their favorite restaurant brands. If diners can’t get a reservation, here are the top two actions they take in each region:
Consumers want to find ‘third places’ that resonate with them, and that match their vibe and personality.
For example, a female diner from NYC who goes out three or more times per week shared that “it’s trust and consistently great food” that bring her back to her favorite restaurants. “The atmosphere is very important… the ambiance, decor, design…”
In comparison, here’s what a male diner from NYC who goes out at least twice a week said, "It’s usually a restaurant group and chef that I know and have a relationship with because they treat me like a VIP and I'm in their database and I get a reservation anytime."
By generation, here’s what encourages diners to return to restaurants:
Guests are looking for loyalty incentives, but they don’t want one-size-fits-all programs. About 75% of surveyed operators across regions have loyalty programs, and different age groups and types of diners are interested in different perks.
72% of Gen Zers in the United States and 59% in the U.K. for example, care most about free menu items, whereas 30% of Millennials in the U.S. seek out VIP access to specialty dining areas. In the U.K. 26% of Gen Xers care about exclusive events and experiences, and in Australia, they’re looking for access to last-minute reservations. 58% of Baby Boomers in Australia are influenced by discounts.
The food and beverage industries across regions are at the start of a surge in growth.
The National Restaurant Association predicts $1T in foodservice sales in the United States in 2024. In Australia, the foodservice market size is projected to reach AUD $150B by 2029, and in the U.K., the restaurant market is set to hit £19.5B by 2026.
We’re already seeing these trends among our customers. Reservations are up across regions from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024:
Despite a promising year ahead, operators are dealing with challenges like staff retention and rising operational costs. But, advancements in digital marketing and technology like AI and automation are changing the game for savvy restaurateurs in nearly every aspect of their businesses.
Our platform data showed that reservations with prepayments spend >35% more than those without pre-bookings. Guests are excited about upgrades and add-ons like seafood dinners, brunch buffets, endless pour packages and holiday feasts.
In 2023, SevenRooms operators’ upgrades and experiences sold like hotcakes across the globe, and Australia’s numbers more than doubled the other regions in revenue.
See which experiences and upgrades were the most popular in your region by checking out the full report.
Around 80% of restaurant operators we surveyed (globally) spend the majority of their marketing budget on social media, and in the United States and Australia 39% and 36% respectively say that organic posts are the most effective in driving bookings. In the U.K., though, 42% say that influencer posts work better.
For consumers, every generation finds new restaurants on social media, in their own unique ways. Gen Zers and Millennials are more likely to be influenced by posts suggested by the algorithm or feed posts that highlight restaurants’ personalities, but Gen Xers and Baby Boomers are inspired by posts that show off food and drinks.
Due to the growing interest in social media discovery, restaurant operators are going all in on this channel, where they can visually show off their personality and meals, drinks and ambiance like how Next Door Eastie shares their gorgeous cocktails.
When we asked how diners prefer to receive restaurant promotions and communications, email and text were more popular than other marketing channels.
With an average open rate of 98%, text marketing is helping restaurants reach their customers with great success. This channel is also most popular among younger audiences. In the U.S., 41% of Gen Zers prefer text followed by 37% in Australia and 21% in the U.K.
Find out how our customer Fabio Viviani generated $220K in revenue from text marketing in four months.
Across regions, Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers are more partial to email — but personalization is key. Our customers see 23% higher open rates, 28% higher click-to-open rates and 2X more revenue per email when sending targeted messages, compared to those who send emails to their entire list.
Restaurant owners are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) and automation as a way to improve the guest experience and run their businesses more efficiently.
Australia is leading the way, with 85% of operators using AI, followed by 70% in the United States and 66% in the United Kingdom.
In the United States and Australia, the most popular ways to use AI are inventory management and data analysis, and in the U.K., they’re more likely to use AI to create marketing collateral and schedule staff, hire and train.
Automation, like AI, is also helping restaurants punch above their weight class. Around 30% of global restaurant operators are interested in using automation in customer service, communication, inventory management and staff training.
And for those already using it, automated email campaigns are generating revenue and improving customer relationships.
Learn how Mulberry Group drove AUD $500K from automated email in a single year.
Explore more restaurant and consumer trends, data and examples in the new Restaurant Trends and Diner Expectations reports from SevenRooms.
New ‘foodie cities’ are also emerging in unexpected places, where many consumers dine out 3-5+ times per month. Download the regional reports to explore which cities near you have a booming restaurant culture.
Get all the juicy details for each region in the full reports.
“We're building an AI-assisted data and insights solution that allows our teams to digest information easily. In the future, team members will be able to ask questions in natural language, the tool will pinpoint the relevant data source, identify the specific problem and offer actionable solutions.” -Kylie Moncur, Chief Marketing Officer, Australia Venue Co.
