20+ Restaurant Customer Statistics: What Foodies Are Looking for in 2025

Customers are the lifeblood of the restaurant industry. Without their continuous loyalty, most restaurants won’t survive. But what do customers want in a restaurant? How do they prefer to order and pay for their food?

Answers to these questions and more below, where we delve deep into 20+ restaurant customer statistics for 2025.

A study released by US Foods in 2024 revealed that 55% of Americans prefer dining at restaurants over ordering takeout. One of the main reasons for this is the atmosphere and socialization with others.

Not only does the restaurant clientele prefer to eat out, but they also do it quite often.

The same study also revealed that the monthly spend has increased from previous years.

This could be attributed to inflation and changes in menu prices, not just a shift in the restaurant customer journey.

On average, women spent more than men when dining out in 2024. This is flipped from 2023, when men spent 19% more.

When dining out, customers tip on average 18% of the bill.

1. Casual dining – 69%
2. Fast food – 55%
3. Fast casual – 55%
4. Contemporary casual – 38%
5. Bar & grill – 30%
6. Cafes – 23%

You might also like: Customizable POS system for Multiple Restaurant Service Types

While some diners can patiently wait for a table at their favorite restaurant, others won’t.

PRO tip: If you’re wondering how to improve speed of service in your restaurant, enable customers to make a reservation online and order their food in advance.

The main reasons why customers prefer to order in are:

1. It’s enjoyable to eat at home – 81%
2. It’s more convenient – 66%
3. You can watch TV or movies – 50%
4. You don’t have to cook – 41%
5. It’s faster – 40%

While less than dining out, plenty of customers still order in quite often. The average monthly spend when ordering in is $88.50.

According to the National Restaurant Association, most customers prefer to order directly from the restaurant.

65% of customers order takeout more often, while 35% prefer delivery.

PRO tip: To ensure you capture 100% of customers who prefer to order in, offer both takeout and delivery directly on your restaurant website.

A Forbes Advisor survey found that 65% of customers tip at least 11% more when tipping digitally.

PRO tip: You can enable digital tipping when customers choose to pay online by card.

Here’s how easy it is to get more tips online if you enable online payments into the GloriaFood online ordering system:

When ordering in, customers prefer to order:

1. Fast food – 63%
2. Fast casual – 47%
3. Casual dining – 34%
4. Contemporary casual – 12%
5. Food trucks – 11%
6. Ghost kitchen – 11%

When ordering in, people expect their food to be ready quickly, whether at the restaurant for them to pick up or at their doors.

PRO tip: To speed up the process, you can integrate online ordering into your POS system. That way, online orders are automatically accepted by the POS and sent straight to your kitchen printer for fulfillment.

To further optimize the process, you can also set up multiple kitchen stations for the grill area, pizza oven, dessert area, salad bar, etc., and assign a different printer to each.

This way, multiple chefs can start preparing the dishes they’re in charge of without imposing on one another or taking over an order that’s not theirs.

According to the Mastercard-commissioned Forrester study, mobile ordering and payment are very popular among most customers.

Additionally, 57% would pay using a digital wallet such as Google Pay or Apple Pay.

PRO tip: By offering contactless dine-in ordering via a QR code menu, you can enable your customers to order and pay directly on their smartphones, whether that is by card or other digital wallets.

Here’s how you can enable on premise ordering and payment with GloriaFood:

Curious to see how on premise ordering works? Here is how customers can order and pay by scanning a QR code. You can also scan it yourself to go through the flow.

Additionally, 73% would like to pay using a digital wallet, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay.

According to a PWC survey, the health and environmentally conscious crowd are more likely to support businesses that join this trend, as they regard the meal experience in a restaurant to be of the utmost importance.

Additionally, a fifth of Gen Z and millennials said “environmental impact” is a vital factor for them when ordering food.

The way you present your food online is also important. Taking professional-looking photos of your food and posting them often will entice customers to visit your restaurant.

The importance of good service in a restaurant cannot be overstated. According to a Deloitte study, most customers don’t mind experiencing an issue at a restaurant, as long as it is solved promptly.

This shows customer service expectations for restaurants are not unreasonable, and most people would give restaurants a second chance.

PRO tip: If you’re looking for an easy way to drive up to 37% more repeat business, you can add discounts and special offers at the top of your dine-in and online menu with GloriaFood.

Check out how many promotion templates you can choose from:

Looking at the restaurant customer experience is vital for the longevity of your business. You need to understand who your customers are and what they’re looking for from a restaurant experience. Only that way will you convince them to keep coming back to your restaurant.

Keeping a close eye on the latest restaurant customer statistics will give you an edge over the competition and allow you to build a successful business.