{"id":3865,"date":"2020-11-19T13:21:04","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T17:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lgcassocprod.wpengine.com\/?p=3865"},"modified":"2024-03-12T14:36:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T18:36:34","slug":"restaurant-consumer-sentiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lgcassociates.com\/es\/restaurant-consumer-sentiment\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospitality in the News |\u00a0Restaurant Consumer\u00a0Sentiment (vs. Consumer Confidence)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week we comb through the news to find employment trends affecting the hospitality industry so you don\u2019t have to. This week\u2019s topic: restaurant <\/span>consumer\u00a0<\/span>sentiment <\/span>\u2013 a<\/span>nd how that relates to consumer confidence.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Restaurant Consumer\u00a0Sentiment (vs. Consumer Confidence)<\/strong><\/h5>\n

As we edge towards the winter, it\u2019s more important than ever to understand how consumers are feeling\u00a0<\/span>about<\/span>\u00a0dining<\/span>-in so restaurants can plan for the next several months. There are two key types of\u00a0<\/span>metrics\u00a0<\/span>that can tell us this information: restaurant consumer sentiment and consumer confidence. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But what\u2019s the difference? In short, consumer sentiment measures how someone\u00a0<\/span>feels\u00a0<\/span><\/i>about doing\u00a0<\/span>something, whereas consumer confidence measures whether or not\u00a0<\/span>they\u00a0<\/span>will\u00a0<\/span><\/i>do something. For example, a restaurant consumer sentiment report may ask \u201cHow do you feel about going out to eat at a restaurant in the next month?\u201d <\/span>While\u00a0<\/span>a consumer confidence report would ask \u201cHow likely are you to go out to eat at a restaurant in the next month?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Although\u00a0<\/span>the differences are minor, the intentions of these metrics are to compare\u00a0<\/span>willingness and ability (respectively).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in September,\u00a0<\/span>we shared a<\/span>n article in the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Hospitality in the News\u00a0<\/span><\/i>series\u00a0<\/span>highlighting\u00a0<\/span>statistics about consumer confidence in returning to restaurants<\/span><\/a>. Overall, we found that\u00a0<\/span>on average 3<\/span>4<\/span>% of restaurant-goers\u00a0<\/span>were comfortable going out in the next month (reported as of September 7<\/span>th<\/span>). These numbers appeared to hold steady from an earlier report in June<\/span>, which showed a similar percentage<\/span>\u00a0(40%)<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Our takeaway was\u00a0<\/span>that while full-service dining had seen an improvement since the start of quarantine, attitudes had not changed much month over month \u2013\u2013 and that simply being open wasn\u2019t enough to draw guests back in, they had to feel comfortable\u00a0<\/span>doing so.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, a study was published by Black Box Intelligence (and reported by\u00a0<\/span>Nation\u2019s Restaurant News<\/span><\/a>) that shows statistics relating to restaurant consumer<\/span> sentiment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span>hey found<\/span>\u00a0that \u201cOctober became the third consecutive month in which more than 50% of all restaurant-food mentions [on the internet] were classified as positive. This is a substantial increase from the 34% of food mentions that were classified as positive in April.\u201d They also found that<\/span>\u00a0more<\/span>\u00a0mentions about restaurant service\u00a0<\/span>were \u201cclassified as positive\u201d at 55%.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Comparing these two sets of statistics,\u00a0<\/span>we can understand the following:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n