Consumers Going Out More During The Holidays

Thanksgiving is the time honored tradition of sitting round the table with your family, griping about today's issues while ingesting mountains of tasty food. That tradition is still continuing, but just not at home. Research from the National Restaurant Association and several restaurant companies found that many people are deciding to eat at restaurants for their holiday meal.

The data showed that more than 10 percent of the country, which equates to 33 million people, will be eating out this year. To put that into perspective, 40 years ago, only 4.4 percent broke away from the tradition. There are a few reasons why this may be the case, according to CBS News. The stress from travel, holiday fatigue and new food diets from family members are a few reasons why no one wants to create a Norman Rockefeller picture every year.

Several restaurants believe that this is not a fad and more people will enjoy eating somewhere else. Christopher Ciavarra, vice president of marketing for Cracker Barrel, said his company has witnessed a 72 percent spike in customers coming in during Thanksgiving.

"More and more people want to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal without the hassle of cooking, so we expect that trend to continue," Ciavarra told CBS News.

Eaters are even bypassing going to restaurants, instead opting for at-home delivery. The meal-ordering service GrubHub, which helps coordinate deliveries for restaurant chains and franchises, said they are seeing a spike in delivery requests during Thanksgiving. The company said they are also seeing a rise in breakfast deliveries during this time. That’s right, people don’t even want to get out of there bed during the holiday either.

Nick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.

Consumers Going Out More During The Holidays

Don’t Miss the Next Big Franchise Story

Nick Powills

More Articles Like This