dallas dining habits
Way less people are going out for lunch in Dallas these days
Lunch isn't a popular time for going out to eat anymore, according to Square.
A new dining trend in Dallas doesn't bode well for the already struggling restaurant industry: Way fewer people are going out for lunch.
According to a report by financial services platform Square, weekday lunch sales in Dallas dropped by 7.3 percent in the past five years, the third-biggest decrease out of all cities in the report. The only cities that fared worse than Dallas were Atlanta and Boston, which had the worst drop in the U.S.
Called the Spring Quarterly Restaurant Report, it examined the weekly transactions of restaurants and bars in 23 major U.S. cities between 2019 and 2023.
It might be easy to blame the drop in lunch to factors like the increase in WFH during the pandemic, the rising cost of living, or inflation. But Square Research spokesperson Ara Kharazian says it's more about a shift to the weekends.
"There’s a perception that consumers are cutting back at restaurants, when in fact total spending has increased," Kharazian said. "Before COVID, consumers were going out more during the week to eat lunch by their office and grab drinks after work. Now with remote work, restaurant spending has shifted to the weekend and we now see that weekend traffic is at its peak."
There's also been a slight uptick in Dallas restaurants' happy hour traffic over the last few years. Transactions made on weekdays from 4-6 pm increased 0.2 percent from 2019 to 2023, the report found. Moreover, the highest positive change occurred on weekends, with Dallas restaurant transactions jumping 6.6 percent during the same time period.
Restaurant and bar sales during happy hour and on weekends are also trending upwards nationally, with weekday transactions from 4-6 pm rising 0.3 percent overall, and weekend sales up 4.2 percent.
"Although many office workers continue to prefer remote and hybrid-work schedules, Square data revealed that end-of-day happy hour remains a priority," the report said. "Based on restaurant and bar traffic between 4-6 pm, happy hour has remained resilient and is slightly above pre-pandemic levels when comparing 2019 to 2023."
The full report can be found on squareup.com.
