Food

“Why is eating out so expensive now?”

That’s a question millions of consumers are asking. And they’re not wrong — in the United States, the price of quick-service meals and snacks rose nearly 28% from 2019 to 2023. (Full-service restaurants saw a 24% price jump). In early 2024, the average quick-service check was $18, 4.5% more than last year.

Customers are also complaining about food delivery costs, which have been increasing because of new minimum wage laws in Seattle and New York City plus new fees tacked on by the delivery companies. All of this adds up to a tough environment for chain restaurants… yet many chains are not only surviving but thriving. What takeaways can we learn from their success?

Diners want better, healthier, cleaner food — faster. They want it this second, actually.

That’s why delivery-focused restaurants are taking off. Look at Chicago’s Eat Purely, which promises chef-made organic meals delivered in 20 minutes. Sales have doubled each month since Eat Purely opened in March 2016. Millennials especially love when people bring them food; about 20 percent of the restaurant meals they eat are delivered.

The rise in delivery demand promises good things for restaurants: higher order volume, increased sales during off-peak hours, and lower front-of-house costs. It also presents some problems, including quality control challenges and high commissions for delivery partners. We take a closer look at the future of restaurant delivery.

Got a surly server? That’s all right; customers won’t care once they taste their food. That’s what many restaurateurs believe, anyway. Here’s the cold truth: great food can’t make up for less-than-stellar service. Customers complain more about personal service than food quality, Jay Baer found in his research for “Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers.”

“There seems to be an under-emphasis in employee training and employee skills in comparison to the emphasis on product quality,” Baer tells Nation’s Restaurant News.

How can restaurateurs fix this? Look to the best. Here are seven secrets of customer service all-stars. 

Even giants stumble. The past few years have brought huge shakeups in the foodservice industry, as fast-casual dining and technology innovations have dramatically altered customers’ expectations for eating out. As a result, big chains like Pizza Hut, Applebee’s and McDonald’s have had to change their game plans to regain the popularity they once took for granted.  

Here’s a look at what can smaller chains and independent operators can learn from the turnaround efforts of America’s biggest restaurant companies.

Imagine if every third customer to your restaurant ordered a meal, looked at the plate, then immediately threw it away.

That's pretty much what's happening. A whopping 25 to 40 percent of food that is grown, processed and transported in the United States will never be eaten. Around 80 billion pounds of food ended up in landfills last year, the Food Waste Reduction Alliance estimates, and 43 percent of that waste comes from restaurants and institutions.

Foodservice industry groups are working to reduce barriers to food recycling and donation efforts. But there's also a lot that individual restaurant companies can do. Here are six ideas for restaurant food waste management.

Freshëns was fast casual before fast casual was cool.

Founded in 1985 as a frozen-yogurt store, Freshëns found its niche serving health-conscious students on college campuses. Now, it's the largest yogurt and smoothie company in the nation. Hamilton Beach Commercial is proud to support its growth by providing high-performance blenders, drink mixers and more.  

How has Freshëns continued to capture the 18-24-year-old niche while staying true to its brand? We talked to Joe Sardina, Vice President of Operations, to find out.