USA | Toast has explored how reservation and full-service restaurant dining trends have shifted in the past year across the industry.
Toast, the digital platform built for restaurants, released its latest Restaurant Trends Report, providing insight into the state of the U.S. restaurant industry through an analysis of aggregated data from selected cohorts of restaurants and in select U.S. states on the Toast platform, which serves approximately 156,000 restaurant locations as of Sept. 30, 2025.
The Q3 numbers are in, and diners at Toast restaurants are keeping things interesting. In-person hospitality is still king, but the "rules" of dining out are clearly shifting. Solo dining is soaring, and Tuesday is the new hot night for a dinner reservation. As restaurants navigate complexities, here's a snapshot of how diner behaviour is evolving.
Reservations for one spiked 22 percent in Q3 2025 compared to Q3 2024. Tuesday reservation bookings jumped 15 percent year-over-year, the largest increase of any day. The 9 a.m. breakfast slot saw the biggest year-over-year jump in reservations, up 19 percent. The 4 p.m. "early bird" slot tied for the second-largest increase in reservations, up 15 percent, along with 10 a.m. The average FSR tip was 19.2 percent in Q3 2025, a slight increase from the seven-year low of 19.1 percent in Q2 2025. Quick-service restaurant (QSR) tips remained flat at 15.8 percent in Q3 2025.
Reservations for a single diner spiked 22 percent in Q3 2025 compared to Q3 2024. Diners are booking (and bailing) more. Seated reservations increased eight percent year-over-year, but cancellations also rose seven percent. No-show reservations decreased by one percent, suggesting that more guests are honouring their bookings or cancelling in advance.
Ditch the group text, solo dining at Toast Restaurants is having a moment with reservations for one on Toast Tables spiking 22 percent in Q3 2025 compared to the same time last year. More people are treating themselves to a meal out, no plus-one required. Still, single diners accounted for less than one percent of the total booked reservations.
But it’s not just solo diners that are planning ahead. Overall, seated Toast Tables reservations increased eight percent year-over-year on a same-store basis. But an increase in reservations also comes together with an increase in cancellations, which were up seven percent compared to last year.
Approximately two percent of booked reservations were no-shows.
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