USA | Toast has released data that examined the state of quick service restaurant transactions and lunch dining trends across the United States.
Toast,the all-in-one digital platform built for restaurants, has announced its Q2 2024 Restaurant Trends Report, providing insight into the overall state of the U.S. restaurant industry through an analysis of aggregated data from selected cohorts of restaurants and in select U.S. cities on the Toast platform, which serves approximately 120,000 restaurant locations as of June 30, 2024.
In Q2 2024, guests at quick-service restaurants (QSRs) paid an average of $11.26 (+4.6 percent YOY) for sandwiches and wraps, USD $12.98 (+4.6 percent) for bowls, USD $11.45 (+4.6 percent YOY) for burgers, USD $11.42 (+2.7 percent YOY) for salads, USD $10.74 (+4.3 percent YOY) for burritos, USD $6.04 (+4.4 percent YOY) for an order of fries, and USD $3.00 (+4.6 percent YOY) for a soda.
Sandwiches and wraps were the most popular food at quick-service restaurants in every state except California, Nevada, Oregon, and Texas, where tacos are the most popular. Bowls were most popular in Hawaii, and salads were the most popular item in Utah.
Consumer spending at quick-service restaurants in 20 U.S. cities Toast explored saw a noticeable shift to breakfast and away from dinner and late-night transactions.
In June, cashiers at quick-service restaurants in California made a median hourly wage of USD $16.98.
Tipping dropped slightly in Q2 2024 to a total average of 18.8 percent. Full-service restaurant tips also dipped to 19.3 percent, and quick-service restaurant tips dropped to 15.9 percent.
To gauge the cost of going out to lunch for consumers compared to last year, Toast examined same-store sales at quick-service restaurants on the Toast platform among 13 different food types: tacos, fries, hot dogs, dumplings, soups/stews, quesadillas, chicken tenders, burritos, sandwiches/wraps, salads, burgers, bowls, and noodles/ramen.
Burgers, bowls, and noodles/ramen topped the list as the most expensive items, while tacos, fries, and hot dogs were the cheapest. Tacos (+5.9 percent), sandwiches/wraps (+4.6 percent), burgers (+4.6 percent), and bowls (+4.6 percent) saw the largest increase in pricing in Q2 2024 compared to Q2 2023.
The price of hot dogs (+1.9 percent), salads (+2.7 percent), and dumplings (+3.8 percent) grew the slowest in Q2 2024 compared to last year.
Hot dog sales dipped nine percent in Q2 2024 compared to Q2 2023, while sales of bowls, chicken tenders, and burritos rose one percent.
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