Led by QSRs, Breakfast Visits Increase at Restaurants

CHICAGO – U.S. consumers made fewer restaurant visits for lunch and dinner during 2013, but increased their number of visits at breakfast for the fourth consecutive year, according to foodservice market research firm The NPD Group. More than 12.5 billion breakfast visits were made to U.S. foodservice outlets last year, up 3 percent from one year ago.

Quick-service accounts for approximately 80 percent of total morning meals and showed the strongest increase in breakfast visits of all the restaurant segments, at 4 percent compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, morning meal visits to midscale/family dining restaurants declined by 3 percent.

Looking ahead, total restaurant morning meal visits are expected to grow 7 percent during the next nine years, according to NPD's study, A Look Into the Future of Foodservice. Quick-service breakfast traffic is expected to increase by 9 percent during that time.

"Breakfast continues to be a bright spot for the restaurant industry as evidenced by the number of chains expanding their breakfast offerings and times," said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant industry analyst for NPD. "A restaurant morning meal serves a variety of needs. In addition to helping us jumpstart our day, it satisfies the need for convenience, is less costly than other restaurant meals and is readily available to us."