2020: Consumer Trends for the Restaurant Industry

2. Staff behavior is incredibly important

Not only can the behavior of staff lead to positive, shareable experiences (that we’ll talk about below), it can also create major issues for brand reputation.

Videos surfacing of staff getting into altercations with customers can be hugely damaging to a brand’s reputation – especially when the staff are clearly in the wrong.

We’ve seen a number of occasions in which tense situations have played out in fast food restaurants this year. You may have heard of the angry man in the bagel store, among many other examples. The way that front-line staff handle difficult customers can make the difference between a brand crisis and an outpouring of praise.

In our recent report Consumer Trends for 2020 we surveyed 8,000 people on what they thought were the most important traits for brands across different industries. In both fast food restaurants and more upscale chain restaurants, customer service proved important.

3. Lone diners and shareable experiences

Solo dining out is a trend that seems to be continuing to rise. This presents an interesting opportunity for restaurants – either solo diners can be neglected (after all, they’re not going to spend as much as a table of six), or staff can treat them to a delightful experience they’re likely to share.

Looking at big trends on social around restaurants, we found that solo diners who were treated great by staff were happy to share the fun experiences they had.

4. Vegan items continue to cause a stir

Uptake of vegan choices and lifestyles are rising quickly, especially with increasing concern around the climate.

We found that, especially in conversations around fast food, when vegan items were added to the menu there was a large spike in conversation on Twitter.

While sustainability was not as important as things like customer service, quality, and convenience in our survey on favorable restaurant traits, it’s still a big part of online conversation.

5. Quality, quality, quality

Regardless of whether our respondents were talking about fast food restaurants or higher end eateries, quality was resoundingly the most important factor.

Convenience and fast customer service were also very important for fast food consumers.

Meanwhile, friendly customer service was important for chain restaurant consumers.

Affordability, surprisingly, was valued more from chain restaurants than fast food places, suggesting that consumers don’t expect to pay exorbitant prices for a quality meal experience.

6. The continuing battle of online personalities

Something strange has happened over the last few years for brands in the fast food industry (among others). Their online presences have become… sassy.

In our report on 101 times brands went viral in 2019, we found that fast food brands were making huge waves in online conversation using humor.

Here’s an example: