Chains, patrons take takeaway dining to new heights

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan 8, 2001 by Ron Ruggless

Casual-dining chains are finding a good deal of their growth is coming, not from increased traffic in the dining room, but from the carryout orders that are becoming a sizable part of sales.

Chili's Grill & Bar, for example, has seen 2-percent incremental sales growth in to-go food over the last several years, according to Louis Adams, a spokesman for the Brinker International-owned concept, based in Dallas. That has led the company to add Chili's To Go entrances at most of the newer restaurants in the 702-unit chain and retrofit existing units to feature dedicated to-go areas.

"Everything that we've been building over the last year and a half to two years has had the to-go component," Adams says.

Most other casual-dining chains are putting some emphasis on takeout foods, pointing to a trend the National Restaurant Association examined two years ago in a study that said, "Off-premises occasions have driven much of the restaurant-industry growth in the 1990s." And that continues into this millennium, chiefly because, as the NRA study by C&R Research found, "for many consumers, dining on takeout fare is no longer a luxury -- it is a vital part of the way they live."

The study found that more than three-quarters of U.S. households -- 78 percent -- make at least one carryout or delivery meal purchase in a typical month."

Mike Woods, vice president of Red Robin International Inc. in Englewood, Colo., says carryout is a growing slice of the gourmet burger chain's business. "I just got back from lunch at one of the units near our headquarters," Woods says, "and the number of to-go bags going out the door was phenomenal."

And the carryout business also has been enhanced by technology, with a large number of casual-dining restaurants connecting to the Internet.

In the Olive Garden division of Darden Restaurants Inc. of Orlando, Fla., some units are linked to the Web site Food.com.

A representative said the company has yet to gauge how effective that computer-based connection is, but she added: "Any way we can get our name out there for the carryout business, the better it is for us. Depending on the store and the location, and whether it does lunch volume or dinner volume, several have seen significant increases in their takeout."

Olive Garden's sister chain, Red Lobster, has noticed a slight trend upward in carryout orders, but the mainly seafood menu has less appeal to takeout customers than does the Italian Olive Garden.

Joe Chavez, spokesman for Red Lobster, says data indicate that "there's a slow, slight-to-moderate increase, but it's not statistically significant."

Bennigan's, a casual-dining concept in the portfolio of Metromedia Restaurant Group of Plano, Texas, also is experiencing a larger number of to-go orders.

As the to-go segment of the casual-dining business grows, the companies are putting more marketing dollars behind the efforts.

Chili's, for example, has been running slick television advertisements to support the carryout business. One focuses on a sports fan enjoying ribs and pans out to discover he's sitting on his couch, not a restaurant, with his remote control. Another, called "Moving Day," features a family surrounded by boxes, having just moved into a new home and enjoying Chili's food to go. "Chili's food is on the move just like they are," Adams explains. The television ads are supported with radio as well.

The NRA study, titled "Takeout Foods: A Consumer Study of Carry-out and Delivery," says, "Creative restaurateurs and other food retailers who offer takeout options are, in a sense, becoming American consumers' kitchen-on-the-go."

The study divided takeout diners into four principal categories: Daily Users, Frequent Users, Moderate Users and Light Users. Moderate Users make a purchase about twice a week and Light Users just less than once a week. It is the other two types of users -- Daily and Frequent -- that are particularly important to the restaurant industry, the study found.

Daily Users, as their name implies, purchase takeout foods every day. Daily customers account for only 21 percent of all adults who purchase takeout, yet they are responsible for a whopping 51 percent of takeout occasions. Daily Users, together with their Frequent User counterparts, who make a takeout purchase about every other day, are responsible for the lion's share of the takeout business -- 80 percent.

Daily Users are generally young and mobile. They are more likely to be men than women, and they depend on takeout foods for much of their total food intake. Always on the go, Daily Users don't spend much time at home and frequently have not yet established their own households.

Frequent Users are also always on the go, although usually for different reasons from those that motivate their Daily User counterparts. They tend to be young couples and young parents living in newly formed households. Facing the dual time pressures of work and family, Frequent Users tend to favor carryout from fast-food restaurants and delivery.