Popmenu, a tech leader serving more than 10,000 restaurants, has officially published the results from its latest report, which reveals that U.S. restaurant operators are approaching 2025 with a focus on engaging more guests, more often.
Going by the stated report’s word, consumers are likely to see new pricing, ordering and marketing strategies, unique dining experiences, as well as higher usage of AI to enhance hospitality and bridge labor gaps.
More on that would reveal how this particular study took into account the responses of well over 359 U.S. restaurant operators and 1,000 U.S. consumers.
Talk about the given exercise on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how majority of restaurant operators (62%) feel cautiously optimistic in the context of their business prospects for the year ahead. On the other hand, 29% were found to feel very optimistic, as nearly one third (32%) plan to open a new location or expand an existing one.
From the perspective of consumers, a contingent of 69% respondents said that they currently dine at or order takeout/delivery from restaurants at least once a week, down from 75% in last year’s study. For the future, a larger chunk of respondents (62%) expect their restaurant spend to hold steady, as compared to 2024. Against that, nearly 1 in 4 (23%) actively anticipate an increase this year, but at the same time; 72% are set to prioritize wallet-friendly meals.
Next up, we must dig into how 57% of the restaurant operators expect an increase in menu prices to some extent, marking an improvement from 71% last year, and 93% that we saw during 2022. Here, one in every five operators said they may adopt variable pricing (i.e., prices change based on demand, time of day, day of the week, or seasonality).
Moving on, the year 2025 is also tipped to see fewer ordering fees. We get to say so because 75% of operators are looking to reduce online ordering fees. They will do so by keeping more online orders on their own website to avoid high commissions, and therefore, reserve third-party delivery sites for initial customer acquisition rather than ongoing order fulfillment.
“2024 was an incredibly difficult year for many restaurants who saw unsustainable costs grow and guest traffic decline,” said Brendan Sweeney, CEO and Co-founder of Popmenu. “Going into 2025, operators are quickly standing up digital and culinary strategies they believe can have a direct and sizeable impact on revenue, without sacrificing margin. Central to this is constantly reaching more guests, getting to know those guests better than anyone else, and continually engaging them in a very personalized way.”
Another detail worth a mention here is rooted in a projection, which foresees greater prevalence of AI. You see, one third of operators (34%) have already adopted AI technology at their restaurants, with 48% planning to follow suit in 2025.
More than half (54%) of operators also believe AI will become a staple in restaurants over the next three years. In fact, 20% believe it’s already a staple. As for where AI will be likely deployed, the use cases include taking orders, preparing food business operations, and marketing.
Beyond that, the restaurant industry is even planning on disbursing more personalized offers. This translates to how, for bringing in a steady stream of new and repeat guests, 3 in every 4 operators plan to increase marketing activities during 2025. To achieve the stated end goal, operators will build out robust profiles of what each guest likes so they can send out more tailored messages and offers.
Not just that personalized offers, we can also expect to see more options on the food menu. Focused on catering to a wider audience, restaurants plan to offer more limited-time menus (40%), more classics with a twist (32%), and more value meals (28%).
Rounding up highlights is an expected uptick in unique dining experiences. This is relayed well by a piece of data, which claims that 74% of operators plan to offer standout dining experiences. As for how they will do so, the answer includes offering memorable ambiance, holiday events, live entertainment, theme nights, nostalgia pop-ups, and interactive dinners.
