Zagat, the restaurant review site favored by foodies, recently released a Future of Dining Study.
The study looks at the impact of COVID-19 on the eating habits of consumers and how they may evolve post-COVID.
Zagat's report chart below (click to enlarge) shows that consumers plan to return to dining out post-COVID, but at a lower rate than pre-COVID.
These results are not surprising. Nor are the reasons.
Simply put, diners miss the experience of dining out - and especially the social side of dining out.
And as the chart below shows, they also miss their favorite places.
But while consumers want to return to restaurants, they've also learned some new behaviors thanks to the shutdowns. More people are cooking at home - and most are saying they plan on cooking more after the pandemic ends than they did before the shutdowns.
Food delivery has also accelerated. And again, most say they plan on continuing using food delivery services at higher rates when the pandemic is over than prior to the pandemic.
Restaurants are, obviously, one of the most COVID impacted industries. Because of this, they are interesting to watch and learn from.
