30% of U.S. consumers will forgo eating out due to COVID-19
Technomic conducted research with 1,000 U.S. consumers from February 28 to March 2 to understand their behaviors, attitudes, and possible reactions to a more widespread outbreak of COVID-19.
As of March 11, there were more than 120,000 global cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and over 4,000 deaths, according to Worldometer, a Dadax website run by an international team of developers, researchers, and volunteers with the goal of making world statistics available. Within the United States, the first confirmed case of coronavirus appeared in mid-January. Since then, the number of confirmed cases in the country has surpassed 930, resulting in 29 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of March 11.
Technomic conducted research with 1,000 U.S. consumers from February 28 to March 2 to understand their behaviors, attitudes, and possible reactions to a more widespread outbreak of COVID-19. The white paper—Technomic’s Take: COVID-19, The Foodservice View—focuses on consumer implications.
“Relative to U.S. impact, economists can only speculate as we are still in the very early stages,” wrote Joseph Pawlak, managing principal at Technomic, in the white paper. “There is no question that the longer the virus is not contained and anxiety persists, few sectors will be spared.
“The foodservice industry could experience significant challenges, given the strong human element inherent in both preparing meals and the act of dining outside the home, presenting both supply and demand issues for the industry,” he continued.
The research revealed that consumers are undoubtedly aware of the COVID-19 situation and outbreak taking hold. Among several different current events, more consumers indicated that they are closely following this story than any other story, with the next most-followed story being the Democratic primary, but by 21% fewer consumers compared with coronavirus.
Consumers feel that their behaviors and attitudes are likely to be impacted by ongoing developments. The most likely action is to avoid crowds, which translates into reducing social interactions. More concerning for foodservice, more than three in 10 consumers say they plan on leaving the house less often, not going to restaurants as often, or not ordering food or beverages at away-from-home venues as often. And among those who say they will not go to restaurants as often, 31% say that decreased frequency will last for between one and three months. It is interesting to note that only 13% believe that they will order more via restaurant delivery because of the crisis.
The reduced foodservice visit incidence could be a boon for the grocery business, as almost half of these consumers say they will stockpile grocery foods and beverages as a substitute for away-from-home meals. Meanwhile, other consumers are concerned about their potential need to move away from foodservice due to the crisis as its benefits are ingrained into their lifestyles. These consumers may not have the cooking skills, the time, nor the desire to make more meals at home.
“In our research, consumers provided their opinions on how the restaurant industry should respond to the coronavirus situation,” wrote Pawlak. “The top two responses covered mitigating the spread of the virus by providing necessary employees with time off and following proper sanitation procedures. Interestingly, 37% said that restaurants should operate ‘business as usual.’ This indicates that many consumers are satisfied that foodservice operators are as prepared as anyone to mitigate the impact of an outbreak.”