CHICAGO -- In preparing its most recent forecast on foodservice industry growth, consulting firm Technomic said it found growing evidence that gasoline prices are taking a bigger cut out of some restaurants' business.
There's no doubt that higher gas prices are having a negative impact, said Ron Paul, Technomic president.
Foodservice has become so ingrained in many consumers' lifestyles that it's a tough habit to break or change, said Michael Allenson, Technomic's director of consumer research. Many consumers would like to reduce [image-nocss] visit frequency, but finding that difficult, they opt instead for various trading-down' tactics.
In a recent poll, Technomic found that consumers feeling the gasoline-price pinch have intensified their efforts to cut back at restaurants over the past six months. One notable change was in the number22%who reported cutting back on extras such as sides, salads and desserts, compared to just 10% of similar consumers polled last November. Increases were also reported across all other cutting-back tactics including choosing quick-service instead of full-service restaurants, selecting less-expensive full-service restaurants, ordering less-expensive entr aes or fewer/shared entr aes, ordering takeout instead of dining in and ordering fewer alcoholic beverages.
Chicago-based Technomic Inc. provides food and foodservice clients with the research, insights and strategic consulting support they need to enhance their business strategies, decisions and results. Its services include category and channel analyses, customer satisfaction studies, opportunity assessments, benchmarking programs and brand equity enhancement.
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