4 Trends That Show How Diners Are Ordering Now

More than six months into the coronavirus pandemic, the big-picture impacts on restaurants have become a familiar refrain: less dining in, more off-premise, and a big shift toward digital channels. 

One big question, however, has been what would happen to those dynamics when people started returning to dining rooms—which has been happening for at least a couple of months. Here are four trends that offer a snapshot of how diners are ordering now. 

Off-premise is still the preferred method. As restrictions continue to ease on dine-in service in most parts of the country, more consumers are returning to dining rooms. As of late August, 41% of consumers had dined indoors since it became available, according to Technomic’s Economic Impact Navigator. In late May, only 16% had done so.

However, dining in still trailed off-premise service formats, the researcher found. Drive-thru led the way, with 68% consumers having used it, followed by takeout (63%), curbside pickup (48%), third-party delivery and direct delivery (both 45%).