If it seems as if fast-food dining rooms are emptier than they used to be, it’s because they are.
Dine-in customers now represent less than 10% of all sales at McDonald’s restaurants compared to roughly 25% before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The shift was already underway before the pandemic with more fast-food customers opting for drive-thru, take-out or delivery.
Across all U.S. fast-food chains, dining-in represented 14% of orders through the first five months of 2023, the WSJ reported, citing data from market research firm Circana. That percentage was around 21% just before the pandemic, and 22% in 2015.
For the most part, restaurant chains welcome the trend since to-go orders are more profitable and efficient to handle, and reduce the work needed to keep dining areas clean.
“You don’t necessarily need the big dining rooms that you needed in our traditional restaurants,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said during an investor call last month.
The WSJ says McDonald’s and other chains are developing new restaurants focused on drive-thrus and carry-out with little to no dine-in option.