Dine-in visits remain well below pre-pandemic levels

Despite bad weather and the Delta variant spread, consumer online and physical restaurant visits in August continued to recover from last year's steep declines, reports The NPD Group. U.S. restaurant traffic increased by 5 percent over its 10 percent decline in August 2020 and declined by 5 percent compared to the pre-pandemic level in August 2019. Larger average check sizes drove a 13 percent increase in dollars compared to a year ago and a 3 percent gain in dollars over the same month two years ago, according to NPD's daily tracking of the U.S. restaurant industry.

"Overall, the state of the U.S. restaurant industry today reflects the steady state of the home-centric lifestyle that has us eating more meals at home," said David Portalatin, NPD food industry advisor and author of Eating Patterns in America. "This behavior predates the pandemic and will continue into the foreseeable future. To meet the needs of today's restaurant consumers, restaurant operators need to think a