What are the latest projections for restaurant industry sales in 2025? Has outdoor dining run its course? Where can you watch the @CenterStage presentations from The NAFEM Show? Answers to these questions and more This Week in Foodservice.

Think off-premises dining has had its day? Think again.

In fact, nearly 75% of all restaurant traffic now comes from off-premises dining, per the National Restaurant Association’s Off-Premises Restaurant Trends.

For their part, consumers like to patronize a variety of off-premises channels at least once a week, including takeout (47%), drive-thru (42%) and delivery (37%). The high weekly use of three different vehicles that can drive off-premises sales shows that consumers still crave convenience when consuming food prepared outside of the home. In fact, two in three millennials and Gen Z adults say ordering takeout is an essential part of their lifestyle, per the NRA study.

Looking closer at specific operator segments, it’s worth noting that full-service restaurants report that off-premises customers account for 30% of total customer traffic, per the NRA study. This represents an 11% increase compared to 2019. Limited-service restaurants saw a 7% increase in off-premises customer traffic between 2019 and 2024.

The NRA study listed the following five ingredients to a successful off-premises program: speedy service, good customer service, technology to ease ordering and payment, value offers and a loyalty program.

Foodservice News

• Technomic has revised its industry sales forecast for 2025. Given the tough start to the year and uncertainty regarding tariffs, Technomic lowered its projections for foodservice sales to a range of 3.4% to 4.6%, per a Restaurant Business report. Technomic had originally forecast growth of 5,1% for the year.
• Can Jersey Mike’s Subs double in size? Founder Peter Cancro feels the chain’s private equity owners, Blackstone, can do just that, per a Franchise Times story. Of course, that would be impressive growth given that Jersey Mikes’s already has more than 3,000 units systemwide. Cancro sold 90% of his stake in Jersey Mike’s last fall.
• Checkers & Rally’s has debuted a smaller restaurant prototype. The unit measures 570 square feet, which is significantly less than the chain’s previous 1,008-square-foot locations, per Restaurant Dive. Going to a smaller prototype reduces costs and real estate requirements. Notable updates to the design include one drive-thru instead of two and updated kitchen layouts to better optimize space.
• Private-equity firm Bain Capital is poised to acquire a 750-unit restaurant company for $1 billion, per multiple published reports, including this one from QSR magazine. Sizzling Platter franchises a variety of restaurant chains, including Little Caesars, Jamba, and Wingstop, among others.
• Has outdoor dining run its course? Not in the slightest, according to the readers of restaurant development + design. A whopping 70% of readers surveyed in February said outdoor dining remains a hot trend and will be part of their designs whenever space allows.
• Turns out that conformity can be a good thing. At least, that’s the stance of the Foodservice Equipment Association and the European Federation of Catering Equipment Manufacturers, who have joined other business organizations in the region to call for a mutual recognition agreement on product conformity assessments to reduce barriers to trade. Conformity assessment is the process of verifying that a product, service, process, or system meets specified requirements, such as standards or regulations. Since the UK left the European Union, there hasn’t been a unified approach to conformity assessment among European neighbors, per a release announcing these efforts. As a result, commercial kitchen equipment suppliers on both sides increasingly face costs to have equipment tested and recognized against UK criteria and then face those costs again to have their equipment tested against the European criteria, which is often similar.
• Which fast-casual and quick-service restaurants saw gains in customer traffic during the first quarter of 2025? The leaders include Dave’s Hot Chicken (59% increase), CAVA (19.7%), Rasing Cane’s Chicken Fingers (12.3%) and sweetgreen (11.2%), per data from Placer.ai. Overall, though, QSR and fast-casual visits followed similar monthly patterns in the first quarter of 2025 as they did in the same period in 2024: rising in January, dropping in February, and then stabilizing in March.
• Catch up on any presentations you may have missed at The NAFEM Show. The biennial event’s @CenterStage venue featured a variety of presentations that are now available on video. Speakers sharing insights included representatives from such companies as The Wonder Group, Chick-fil-A, White Castle, Taziki’s and other operators. Presentations there also shared insights from a group of foodservice designers, representatives from the Culinary Institute of America and more. These video presentations generally last less than 30 minutes, which is great.
• Kudos to Thermodyne Foodservice Products and Winston Foodservice. These manufacturers were awarded A&W’s Supplier Award for Excellence for their performance and service levels in 2024.

Economic News

• Consumer sentiment fell for the fourth straight month in April, per the data from the University of Michigan. Its Index of Consumer Sentiment declined 11% for the month for a reading of 50.8. Consumers' expectations for business conditions, personal finances, incomes, inflation, and labor markets all continued to deteriorate.
• The Consumer Price Index fell 0.1% in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The 12-month inflation rate came in at 2.4%, which is 0.4% less than in February. The index for all items less food and energy, also known as core inflation, came in at 2.8%, which is 0.1% greater than the previous month. This is the lowest rate for core inflation since March of 2021, per a CNBC story. Economists had projected the 12-month inflation rate would come in at 2.6% and the core at 3%. Grocery store prices increased 0.5% for the month, while restaurant prices increased 0.4%. For the 12 months ending in March, restaurant prices increased 1.4% more than grocery prices.
• The Producer Price Index for final demand decreased 0.4% in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Final demand prices increased 0.1% in February and 0.6% in January. The index for final demand advanced 2.7% for the 12 months ended in March. Economists had projected a 02% increase for March and for the annual rate to come in at 3.3%, per a CNN story. The index for final demand services declined by 0.2%. Prices for final demand less food, energy, and trade services edged up 0.1% in March after increasing 0.4% in each of the previous 3 months.
• Initial jobless claims increased by 4,000 for a total of 223,000 for the week ending April 5, 2025, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 4-week moving average was 223,000, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised average of 223,000. Despite these modest gains, most observers feel the number of jobless claims remains at relatively low levels.