PORT WASHINGTON N.Y. Nearly one out of every four restaurant visits during June, July and August was prompted by the offer of a deal, a 9-percent jump in bargain hunting from the same period of 2007, according to research released by The NPD Group here. The researcher’s CREST data show that overall restaurant traffic for the quarter was up 1 percent, with all of the gain coming from deal-making.
Visits not prompted by value menus, two-for-one offers or other bargains fell during the three-month period by 1 percent, according to NPD.
“Deal offers are complex and risky for restaurant operators, and this at the same time they are faced with rising food costs,” said Bonnie Riggs, a restaurant industry analyst for NPD. “But operators understand that in order to get the customer in the door, they need to make an offer they simply can’t refuse.”
The CREST data, which is based on consumers’ diaries of what they buy and eat, indicate that bargain promotions were particularly prevalent during the summer at quick-service restaurants, and especially among hamburger and sandwich specialists. Bargain-driven traffic rose by 10 percent from the prior year, to account for 30 percent of all QSR visits, NPD said. That compares with the 23 percent of all restaurant traffic that was generated by the offer of a deal, the company said.
NPD noted that bargain promotions are most prevalent at lunch, though head-turning offers are also on the rise at breakfast and dinner. The researcher found that 38 percent of all the QSR stop-bys that were triggered by the offer of a bargain came at lunch.