Food & Beverage

Survey: Fast food/fast casual face-off intensifying

The lines are blurring but the battle is intensifying for customers between fast food and fast casual restaurants, according to a survey identifying a number of high-priority restaurant industry issues.

Photo: iStock.

May 26, 2021

There's quite a battle brewing on the limited-service restaurant front, this one pitting traditional fast food against the relative new kid on the block, fast casual. That's one of the primary findings of a survey of over 1,800 U.S. consumers last month by location tech company, Bluedot, resulting in the fourth installment of its State of What Feeds Us report.

The company has been monitoring the surge in drive-thru visits and curbside and in-store pickups, since the pandemic took hold nationally. This latest report offers a year in review of shifting consumer restaurant habits precipitated by the pandemic, including increasing competition between fast food/QSR brands and fast casual restaurants, now that pandemic restrictions are easing. The latest data shows consistent consumer behavior across both restaurant categorie, which Bluedot said signals the distinctions between the two categories are disappearing.

"It remains to be seen if fast casual brands will win back the customers they lost to fast food restaurants this past year," Bluedot CEO Emil Davityan said in the release. "The data strongly signals long wait times are a vulnerability for fast food restaurants as they compete for customers.

"Brands that accelerated investments in technology and logistics to deliver faster and more frictionless service during the pandemic are beginning to level the playing field, but now there's a race to roll out restaurants of the future. It's the next evolution of personalization, speed and convenience layered with a unique brand experience that will best position restaurants to win market share."

Major findings from the survey fell into specific categories, including:

• Fast food reigns supreme, far outpacing fast casual and casual dining restaurants by more than two times in the past month, with 45% reporting they visited fast food restaurants mainly, if not exclusively, over fast casual. Visits to fast food over casual dining restaurants were slightly higher at 47%.
• Drive-thru visits remain at pandemic levels, and have grown 36% since the early days of the pandemic with nine out of 10 of those polled visiting in the last month. In fact, 70% visited the drive-thrus as often or more often over the past month, an uptick from 68% in February. Moreover 35% said they are more likely to spend more at the drive-thru, followed by restaurant apps (24%) and the counter (20%). Consumers said order accuracy and speed top list of what they want via the drive-thru and what will bring them back to the restaurant in the future.
• Curbside pickups at fast food restaurants substantially dropped from 77% in February to 57% in the last month. Additionally, 47% used curbside pickups as often or more frequently, a sharp decrease from 67% in February.
• The arrival experience is failing, with just 32% of those who said they wanted automated check-in upon arrival at curbside, actually getting it.
• In-store fast food pickups fall from 89% in February to 79% in the last month.
• Consumers increasingly fail to see distinctions between fast food and fast casual, though 51% who did said they'd go to fast casual more often if they had drive-thrus. But notably, consumers expect to visit fast casual brands more in the future, with 41% planning to visit fast casuals and fast food equally and 25% plan to visit more fast casuals than fast food.
• Speed of service and wait times remain major issues with 85% leaving a long line, up from 77% in February. And in fast food, the wait that's acceptable continues to wane down to a total of 6 minutes in the drive-thru — down from 10 minutes in August 2020. Consumers even delete restaurant apps when the wait times are considered too long, with 48% of those who said they use apps to bypass long lines, claiming they will also deleted them if they have to wait when they arrive.

On the subject of mobile apps, consumers said they download them to get faster, easier services, along with coupons (56%) and restaurant apps were more popular than third-party apps now, but they're also being deleted by 28% of those polled, while just 39% keep the apps for at least six months, a drop from 46% in February.

As far as the restaurants consumers want to see going forward, these were the consumer priorities:

• More drive-thru options. 63% want designated drive-thru lanes for mobile orders, far outranking other restaurant innovations. 31% would revisit a restaurant if it had a dedicated mobile drive-thru lane.
• Modern menu boards. 40% stated a menu board that confirms their order as a top reason why they revisit a drive-thru.
• Advanced personalization. 29% stated personalized deals and offers would keep them coming back to a specific drive-thru. In the future, 34% want menu boards that display their loyalty points and coupon offers while 24% want a menu board that greets them by name and knows their regular order.
• Text ordering. 35% want the ability to text their order to restaurants.
• Smarter arrival. 35% would download an app if it meant restaurants knew when they are on their way or have arrived.