POPMENU INDUSTRY REPORT
2024 Restaurant Trends to Watch
What strategic moves are restaurant operators making in 2024? And what does this mean for their competitors and guests? Popmenu surveyed 461 restaurant leaders and1,000 consumers across the U.S. in November-December to find the answers.
Keep scrolling for tasty details on growth strategies, hot menu trends, marketing plans, tech adoption and the role of artificial intelligence, factors influencing guest purchasing behavior, and more. Ready to dive in?
Restaurant operators are entering 2024 with a positive, yet watchful, outlook as inflationary pressure somewhat subsides and consumers' appetite for dining out remains strong and steady. Most feel optimistic about business prospects and more than a third plan to open a new location or expand an existing one in the next 12 months. However, intense competition for labor and guests persists, prompting restaurants to rethink marketing and operational strategies. Getting back to basic best practices to manage and grow their business—with a greater reliance on new and established technologies for execution—is a key theme that emerged in this year's study.
Operators' Point of View
Business Outlook for 2024
Very optimistic
Cautiously optimistic
Not optimistic
Opening a new location or expanding an existing one this year
Growth Strategies
Top 5 Goals for Restaurants in 2024
When asked to identify their biggest priorities for 2024, stronger sales and profitability remain top of mind for operators, along with improvements in productivity and guest satisfaction.
We have ten different concepts. Goals are always to increase sales and visibility. We also want to give a great experience not just in the restaurants, but everywhere from our website to social media pages. I don't have a massive budget, so am using [tech] tools to the best of my ability.
Guest Point of View
The Guest Point of View
Consumers are more than happy to help restaurants achieve above mentioned goals. Did you know that 1 in 3 consumers spent more on restaurants than new clothes in 2023? That 1 in 4 spent more on restaurants than travel? Bottom line, people LOVE their local eateries — 75% dine out at least once a week.
will order from restaurants more often in 2024
will maintain current restaurant spend in 2024
When it comes to choosing one restaurant over another, consumers say budget-friendly menus (with photos and reviews!), special promotions, and tech-enabled convenience are among factors influencing their dining decisions this year.
Guest Experience
Getting Back to the Basics
To meet business goals and consumer expectations, operators are placing a larger emphasis on tried-and-true best practices to bring in more guests and keep them coming back. More specifically, they expect to:
We are a huge fan of automated messages because they are a wonderful way to make guests feel special and seen, without requiring a ton of time on the back end. A huge part of our success is the 'Cheers' factor of making everyone feel like family both in the restaurant and via our digital communications, and automated messages help us do that.
AI & Automation
Tech Trends Coming to Restaurants Near You
Nearly half of operators say they have jobs they can't fill as they contend with an ongoing labor shortage. New tech is being adopted for front-of-house (guest-facing), back-of-house (kitchen), and administrative roles. Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to play an increasingly prominent role in supporting operators — the majority (70%) expect AI tech to become a staple in restaurant operations in the future.
To increase efficiencies and improve financial results:
plan to automate more online functions
plan to automate more on-premise functions
Where automation focus is concentrated:
Front-of-house
Back-of-house
Administrative
AI & Automation
Restaurants Plan to Reap the Benefits of Tech in Three Key Ways
Telling their story.
Operators want to step up their marketing game this year, but more than half (56%) say they don't have enough time or resources to effectively promote their restaurant. When asked to identify the most time-consuming tasks they wish they could hire for, the most common responses were creating marketing content and managing social media.
Top 2 most time-consuming tasks:
Creating marketing content
Managing social media
More operators (38%) are turning to social influencers to help spread the word about their restaurants. They are also taking advantage of automation to send marketing messages to guests based on their preferences and behavior. In addition, a growing number are using AI technology to automatically create a full month of marketing content that is unique to their restaurant (emails, texts, and social posts).
The challenge is that I'm not a marketing person. I'm more of an accounting person. I'm able to sit down, spend 10-15 minutes, and have the whole month's marketing done.
Taking pressure off staff.
Restaurants are also leaning on tech to help staff balance the needs of on-premise and off-premise guests — one such application is managing phone calls. Nearly 30% are considering AI technology to field calls from guests and send links to online ordering or reservations, so they don't lose revenue opportunities.
What AI [phone] answering has done is free up the personnel to run the food to the tables, take the food to the to-go counter, and better interact with the customer.
Consolidating tools.
Two of the biggest tech challenges operators face are juggling too many tools and having guest data live in different systems that don't talk to each other.
2 major tech challenges:
Juggling too many tools
Guest data lives in different systems
Restaurants are looking to streamline tech, along with associated costs, and keep guest data centralized for more effective marketing and business decisions.
Being able to collect customer information so that we can focus our marketing on areas that we know are working is key.
Menu Trends
What's on the menu?
When it comes to what they're serving guests, operators expect to incorporate new dishes and a little more flexibility into their menu. Trends to watch in 2024 include:
Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are expected to get a little extra attention. Two-thirds (67%) of operators say they will promo their beverage menu more this year. When asked why, 64% said it helps to increase order sizes while 62% say it helps to bring in more guests. Operators also plan to increase revenue with specialized menus.
Will promo their beverage menu more
Will increase their catering business
Will host special online ordering events
Cost Management
Restaurants Raising Menu Prices
When it comes to menu prices, 31% of operators feel food costs are more under control compared to a year ago. However, 71% of operators say they will raise menu prices in 2024, on par with last year.
Percentage of operators increasing menu prices:
- 202293%
- 202372%
- 202471%
Final thoughts
Restaurants are taking on 2024 with a sense of optimism and a game plan for growth. They're getting back to the basics while taking advantage of new technologies to meet strong consumer demand. AI and automation will continue to play important parts in their strategy as they strive to create greater operational efficiencies, keep guests engaged with more personalized hospitality experiences, and achieve better financial outcomes.
