As the coupon and discount battles continue in the foodservice industry, a new survey conducted by Radius Global Market Research shows that consumers are increasingly influenced by factors in addition to price.
While price is still the top factor consumers use to determine where to eat, there are other things that are considered by many consumers.
Radius surveyed U.S. consumers via its proprietary Know More™ Internet Panel about their dining behavior in the first three months of 2011. Respondents had advice for foodservice marketers across all categories — from quick service restauratns to fine dining.
Highlights include:
1. Diners in all categories said that increased access to calorie counts and other nutritional information at restaurants would influence how often they visit. In the QSR and Fast Casual categories this health-oriented communication led all other consumer recommendations.
2. Between-meal and late-night snacks are popular with QSR diners—more than one in five would visit more if offerings were increased.
3. Fast Casual eaters want a wider variety of both chicken and breakfast menu items.
4. Almost one in four Fast Casual diners said they’d likely act on promotions delivered via social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.
5. In the Casual Dining category diners say they’d come more often for unique premium burgers.
6. Customers visiting Fine Dining establishments prove the toughest to motivate. Nearly half of respondents indicated that their current habits could not be changed by anything other than price.
