FOR RESTAURANTS, IT’S A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT AS TABLES FILL UP
This holiday season, more people going out to eat, sales show
As shoppers hit the mall during the holidays, they’re not just fulfilling wish lists. They’re also filling their bellies.
Restaurant sales are getting an even healthier bump than sales at stores as people increasingly go out to eat in the last months of the year. Retail sales are expected to grow 3.7% in November and December this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Restaurant sales in the same months have been trending up between 4.2% and 6.4% since 2010, according to data from MasterCard Spending Pulse, which also found that November restaurant sales were up 8.1% this year over last November.
Often people are sitting down to a meal before or after a shopping trip. Some are in search of sustenance. Others are looking for an experience that leaves lasting memories.
“There’s something about the season, the lights, the music, the lovey-dovey feeling in the air, that leads to us wanting to go out more,” says Brad Pettiford, 28, who says he often uses the holiday season as an excuse to eat out more than normal, adding a dinner out with his wife, Jami, onto other activities such as shopping or ice skating. “It’s a nice event that is memorable.”
People are building a restaurant stop into their shopping trips, or even making it the reason for a mall visit in the first place. Of those who shopped at a mall or shopping center on Thanksgiving or Black Friday this year, 63% also dined, according to data from the International Council of Shopping Centers.
The trend fits into an overall shift in spending habits. Restaurant spending is expected to hit a record in 2015, in excess of $709 billion, according to the National Restaurant Association, a 4% increase over 2014. Recognizing the shift, some mall operators are stoking the growth by overhauling their offerings from sub sandwich shops and greasy Chinese chicken joints and installing trendy chains like Shake Shack and Blaze Pizza, along with a mix of more upscale restaurants such as Brio Tuscan Grille or Sushi Roku.
Nearly half of the new tenants Irvine Company Retail Properties has brought in to its 41 Califor- nia-based properties since 2013 have been restaurants. That’s up from 2006 to 2010, when 34% of new tenants were eateries.
The increase in restaurants is paying off with increased foot traffic and longer shopping trips by customers, says Easther Liu, the company’s chief marketing officer.
Since American Whiskey opened in the heart of a major shopping hub near New York City’s Penn Station in September 2013, sales have trended higher, especially during November and December, when the average ticket is about 10% higher per person, says Casey Pratt, a coowner of the restaurant. And customers aren’t just coming for the food.
The restaurant has also noticed an uptick in sales of its holidaythemed T-shirts and hats, which Pratt attributes to people wanting “something to remember the experience and the place by.”