TouchBistro, the all-in-one restaurant management system, has been publishing its annual State of Restaurants Report for six years now. And in that time, which pre-dates the pandemic, Jackie Prange, vice president of marketing, says that this year’s data, which it released this morning, holds a unicorn result.
Jackie Prange, VP of marketing at TouchBistro
“We thought this was the most positive outlook that we’ve seen for the industry,” she said in an interview.
The numbers would suggest this. Despite all the sturm and dang about labor costs and food prices, the 600 independent FSR operators surveyed profess to still being glass-half-full types, which you would have to be to toil in a work-your-butt-off industry. Fifty-two percent said they are somewhat optimistic about the future and 38 percent said they are very optimistic.
Their off-premise operations would seem to be putting a bounce in their step. Fifty-seven percent said their takeout and delivery sales had increased slightly in the past year, and 25 percent said their sales increased significantly. Forty-nine percent said they plan to add catering in the coming year.
Of course as a tech provider TouchBistro has skin in the game and is not an impartial observer. But it insists that no one is putting a thumb on its methodology scales.
“We take anonymous data from across the industry so we can present a full, unbiased picture,” Prange said. TouchBistro worked with research firm Maru/Matchbox to conduct the survey last summer.
Somewhat surprising, the number one third-party delivery platform wasn’t DoorDash, but Uber Eats.
And in a shock to no one under the age of 30, the use of TikTok jumped from 26 percent in the last report to 48 percent. If an operator isn’t using it by now, well, tick tock.
