Casual Dining – Who’s Thriving and Who’s Recovering?

Casual dining took a major hit during COVID as diners avoided enclosed spaces and states introduced capacity restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. Now, foot traffic analysis of twenty-eight leading casual dining chains shows that the sector is returning to pre-COVID levels. 

Casual Dining Almost Recovered 

Restaurants were still struggling in Q1 as cold weather made outdoor seating impractical while COVID regulations and customer precautions limited indoor seating options. But since April, with the weather warming up, vaccination rates increasing, and restrictions lifting, the pace of recovery has been picking up. Monthly visits in April, May, and June were down -10.4%, -7.8%, and -3.8%, respectively, compared to the equivalent months in 2019. If current growth continues, casual dining visits could rebound fully before the end of the summer.

Read the full article on Placer.ai here.